


Do Flowers Exist At Night?

by charmedtenderness



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Billy Hargrove is a Little Shit, Body Horror, F/M, Family Issues, Fluff and Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Sexual Assault, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Mental Health Issues, Mutual Pining, Psychological Horror, Steve Harrington Needs a Hug, Steve Harrington is a Sweetheart, Stranger Things Spoilers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-04
Updated: 2020-10-04
Packaged: 2021-03-04 20:08:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 15
Words: 47,681
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25062112
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/charmedtenderness/pseuds/charmedtenderness
Summary: After a messy divorce leaves Annie Hardwick moving to Hawkins, Indiana feeling as alone as ever, she is thrust into terrifying ordeals between the Upside Down as well as the world as she knows it. She longs for people to talk to and a world outside the books she frequently consumes. Thanks to one Steve Harrington, she just might get her wish.
Relationships: Maxine "Max" Mayfield & Original Female Character(s), Robin Buckley & Original Female Character(s), Steve Harrington & The Party, Steve Harrington/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 14
Kudos: 54





	1. Prologue: October 24, 1984

**Author's Note:**

> It's been a while since I published anything, but I hope you guys enjoy this! Please let me know what you think!

There was a click as the play button was pressed on the boombox and Queen blasted throughout the small house. A black cat stood at the doorway of Annie’s bedroom, meowing. The girl had just flopped onto her bed and glanced up before sighing, looking at the cat.

“Dinner already, Erik? You’ve got both of us eating like old people, it’s so early!” Annie exclaimed, setting down her beaten-up copy of  _ Carrie _ on her nightstand.

After a few more mews, Annie got up from her bed and followed her cat out to the kitchen. The cassette she was playing could still be heard in the background. It was a rather small kitchen and dimly lit in the first place. She found the cat food, scooping some of it into Erik’s bowl. Then she looked through the refrigerator to find something for herself. When she didn’t see anything appealing in there, she closed it and looked through the cabinets.

The lighting was so poor that she almost didn’t notice the power switch off. It was only because she was humming along to the guitar solo in “Killer Queen” that she noticed something was off. There wasn’t any music and there wasn’t any light. Every fiber of Annie screamed for her to freak out, but she knew better.

She sighed to herself, “This is fine, the house is kinda old, this was gonna happen at some point. Just… it had to happen while you were stuck at home alone for, like, two weeks… or was it one or is it even two weeks now she’s been gone a bit?”

It was probably just a sense of dread and fear, but Annie couldn’t help feeling like the air was cold. She tugged her dark green flannel around her small frame. When she looked to Erik’s food bowl, she saw it was empty.

Her mind had to be playing tricks on her because it was suddenly snowing. Annie looked out the window, trying to catch the right angle to see if her eyes were playing tricks on her. Looking out, it had to be snowing, but since when? Something was off, and she pulled out a knife from one of the drawers.

“Um… Erik, are you there?” Annie asked, starting to shiver.

Then, in an instant, the lights flickered back on and everything felt normal again. Her black cat wove his way between Annie’s legs. She could hear her cassette was well into another song. Taking another look out the window, it was clear out, the sun starting to set.

For the moment, Annie decided to shrug it off. Maybe she just saw something. That didn’t explain the way the music cut out. It didn’t explain most things. She put the knife back in the drawer and went back to finding food.

It was probably just stress. Being moved around twice in less than a couple months was bound to cause stress. Anything to keep her from thinking that she was going crazy.

Realizing she wasn’t hungry right then, she went over to the stack of mail she left on the coffee table. She sorted through it, hoping there was something for her. If there were ever a time for her to get a card or something like that, today would be the day. Perhaps tomorrow, but today would be the most ideal.

There were three piles that Annie sorted the mail into. Pile one, the largest, was for bills and statements and anything her mom was supposed to deal with. Pile two, nonexistent, was for herself. Pile three, with a handful of unopened envelopes, was the burn pile.

All of the letters in the third pile were from the same person. Carter Hardwick had been writing to Annie ever since she and her mom moved to Hawkins. After opening one and reading it all the way through, she vowed to never put herself through that again. 

Burning things was rumored to have some sort of spiritual form of release or catharsis. The two probably went hand in hand, and Annie was more than happy to burn the letters without knowing the contents.

There was a box of matches that Annie knew her mom wouldn’t have wanted her to use on this, but no one was there to stop her. So she went over to the fireplace, opening it up. She struck a match and placed the flame to the handful of letters before tossing them into the fireplace. The paper turned black and shriveled up.

Eventually, she took a couple pieces of lunch meat and cheese and sat at the empty table. The music could still be heard from her room. It was dark outside and she tried to not look out. There were woods behind the back door, and she knew she would only scare herself if she stared.

Then, getting an idea, Annie went over to the coffee table and grabbed a cinnamon scented candle and put it on the dining room table. She pulled out the box of matches again, taking one and striking it. Soon, the candle was lit and the match was blown out.

She stared at the flickering light for a bit before pushing several strands of long, dark hair behind her ear, “Happy birthday to me.”

With that, Annie blew out the candle. All she could bring herself to wish for was to not feel so alone. 


	2. Chapter One: The Party That Was Not A Graveyard Smash

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In an attempt to try and fit in and make friends, Annie decides to take a chance on a Halloween party. Whether or not it was a good idea is up for debate.

The bell rang for class to start, but that was not enough to pry Annie away from her book. With Carrie’s destruction of an entire town in full-swing, how could anyone expect her to put it down? There weren’t many pages left. She already went through this section of government class in two other schools already. Not to mention her lawyer mother made sure she knew the Constitution forwards and backwards, especially the Bill of Rights. 

“Annette, is that what we’re doing right now?” the teacher asked.

Annie’s head snapped up and she slowly closed the book, “Um… no, sorry.”

Right behind her, she could hear Carol snickering with Tommy. Instead of turning around and snapping at them like she so badly craved, she chewed on the inside of her cheek.

“Well, being new is not going to exempt you from participating in this class. How many amendments were in the Bill of Rights?” the teacher asked, staring her down.

Annie tried to hold back a laugh and failed, “Ten, do you want me to name them all? We’ve got the first one with freedom of speech, petition, assembly, press, and religion. Then the next one is the right to bear arms. After that we’ve got the soldier quartering act, the freedom from search and seizure… should I continue?”

“I will continue teaching the class. You will pay attention,” replied the teacher, her face flushing.

From the corner of her eye, she could see the King of Hawkins High himself trying to not to laugh from a couple desks in front of her. He then shifted his position and caught Annie’s eye. Annie arched an eyebrow and then Steve nodded to her book.

An oddly specific act of kindness in her opinion, Annie shrugged and went back to her book. This time, she also made an effort to position herself so it wouldn’t be obvious she was reading. Even though she could tell Steve was making an effort to help her out for whatever reason. She continued reading the destruction as it came to an end. The hardest thing about not giving herself away was not allowing herself to react to what she was reading.

The book was finished within the next fifteen minutes and she looked over at the board. No one was paying attention. Everyone was talking about the party at Tina’s. Despite not having anyone to go with, Annie contemplated going anyway. Being home alone for the last few days made the matter lose its novelty.

Within the last half hour of class, Annie put away her copy of  _ Carrie _ and pulled out  _ The Exorcist _ . It was Halloween, what else was she going to read? Perhaps reading about supernatural experiences wasn’t the best thing to read while she was home alone, but she didn’t care. After watching the movie, she had to know what it was all supposed to be about.

When the bell rang, Annie closed her backpack and slung it over her shoulder. She fidgeted with the sleeve of her black and white striped shirt as she made her way to her locker. Once she unlocked it, she got the things she needed and left the building.

She pulled her Walkman out of the pocket of her dark blue windbreaker, put her headphones on over her ears and pressed play. The Walkman went back into Annie’s pocket as she walked. There were a few mix-tapes in a small pocket of her backpack and several more at home. All with long titles written with a black fountain pen in sloppy cursive varying from  **_“songs to give me that good boost of dopamine”_ ** to  **_“i need to feel like a badass in half an hour or less”_ ** . The tape currently in her Walkman was  **_“spooky vibes for the spookiest day of the year”_ ** . A Halloween mix-tape felt fitting.

“Time Warp” was going through her ears as she made her way down the street. Having lived in large cities where a car would have been a hassle, Annie only relied on public transit in the past. After the divorce, her mom only had enough money to get one car. There wasn’t much of a chance for Annie to learn how to drive and the bus took far longer to get her home than walking did.

Sure, there was a bit of a chill, but Annie just zipped up her jacket over her shirt and had her hands in the pockets. In the pocket without the Walkman, she could feel her switchblade. After years of late night rehearsals in Seattle, she wasn’t about to play around with staying safe in any town. Even if it was as small as Hawkins.

After about half an hour, Annie got home just in time for “Ghostbusters” to play. A small, brick-colored house stood in front of her. She unlocked the front door and went inside. Immediately, Erik started dashing around the house, causing Annie to smile.

She took off her headphones, letting them hang around her neck.

“You’ve been keeping busy,” she said, watching as Erik finally stopped when he hopped on the windowsill in the living room.

There wasn’t much to be done, so she put her headphones on again and pulled out her book from her backpack, flopping on the couch. After reading for a little bit, she closed her book and marked her page with the flyer for Tina’s party. 

Was she really going to go? The thought of waiting for children to come knocking on her door when she was perfectly aware no one would come was a last resort for sure. The small house she shared with her mom edged on the outskirts of town. Some annoying middle schooler even claimed it was haunted. All she remembered about him was he wore a baseball cap and had super curly hair. 

However, ghosts were not real, so there was nothing to worry about. At least, that was what Annie told herself as she got up from the couch. She went over to her room, putting the cassette in her boombox so she could hear it as she got ready for the party. What else was she going to do with her time?

Maybe it would be fun. Maybe she could get some friends. Maybe things would stop feeling like they were steadily falling apart. 

She pressed the play button and music started to come from her boombox as she went to her closet. If she didn’t put this Sandy costume to use now, she would never get a chance to use it. So she changed into the black pleather pants and a black, cold shoulder shirt. It was simple but obvious. All that was left was some hair and makeup.

That was easier said than done as Annie distracted herself dancing around her bathroom as “Superstition” played in her room. She spun around, dancing like an idiot and suddenly everything went black. The power had to have cut out again, but that didn’t change how jarring it was to be in a pitch black room. Unable to even see what was in front of her, she reached out to the wall to try and find her way to the door.

It was a good idea until she felt something wet and slimy and she recoiled. A scream left her mouth and she shut her eyes, not sure what that was at all. Something just felt off.

And just like that, the power came back on. As for the slimy wall, it was dry. There was still residue on her hand and she was quick to scrub it all off. She made sure to leave the bathroom door open this time in case the power cut out again.

By the time her hair was all curled and teased and her eye makeup and red lipstick were applied, it was about time for the party. She threw on her shoes and the black leather jacket that was supposed to tie the whole thing together. The only thing that was super different was the lack of red heels. Her switchblade was in the pocket of her jacket and she left once her cat had his food.

It took a decent walk to get to Tina’s, but it wasn’t nearly as dangerous as she figured. With a bunch of kids running around, she was in decent company for most of the walk.

Finding Tina’s house was the easy part when she saw all the different people going in and out. It took a bit more courage to walk up to the house and go inside.

What if they didn’t like her? The thought of people actually liking her was a bit more tempting than caving to the prior thought. So she forced herself to walk all the way up to the house and inside.

There were other teens in their own costumes and it was already loud and people were dancing around. She could smell the alcohol as it mixed in with sweat and cigarette smoke. Probably a bit of weed too, but she couldn’t be too sure. If she didn’t cower into herself, then maybe she had a chance at fitting in.

As she walked towards the punch bowl, she couldn’t help feeling the eyes of someone staring at her from across the room. Her eyes ended up meeting Billy Hargrove’s for just a moment. Annie was quick to turn away and focus on filling up her cup. 

Liquid courage would do the trick, right? It had done her some form of good in the past. She just needed a chance to relax.

Spending time on her own for so long made her want nothing more than to be around other people. Being liked by them would be a nice addition too. With the way Billy looked at her, it was possible that things were taking a turn for the better.

Annie would never admit it, but she kind of had the tiniest grudge against the boy. After all, he had the nerve to move into Hawkins a couple weeks after she had. It solidified her position in the school as the depressed weird girl. Sure, she might have done some of that to herself, but that didn't mean that she didn't long to be liked and to have someone to talk to.

Besides, there could be a sense of camaraderie between both of them. They were both from places far away from Hawkins. And, okay, maybe Annie was using all of this to justify the fact that she was going to try talking to him because he was hot. Was that such a crime?

It was Nancy Wheeler coming over and almost pushing her away from the punch bowl that ripped Annie from her thoughts. She rolled her eyes, walking away from her and over to where Billy was.

And just as she thought, he was kind of charming. Almost in the same way her last boyfriend had been. This was the sort of thing that she was supposed to be doing. Not reading all the books that she could find alone in her house, but flirting with people and partying. If she was stuck in this town, she may as well try to find someone worth talking to.

Two cups of punch later and she'd somehow managed to gain some sense of popularity. When some of her favorite songs came on, she had no trouble going out and dancing. What she wasn't the biggest fan of was how Billy was now at a point where he seemed to be staring at her almost too intently.

"Hey, what do you say I get you another drink?" Billy asked, looking down at her.

Annie shook her head, leaned against the wall, "It's all good, I've still gotta walk home.

"Walk home?! Come on, I can take you home myself," he said, turning so he all but had her cornered there.

She was quick to shake her head again, "That's fine, you've been drinking, I'd rather not deal with that."

"I haven't had that much," he insisted, though Annie could smell the alcohol right on his breath.

Sure, she was a little tipsy, but she wasn't stupid either. If she went in his car, he'd try to screw around with her. Which would have been fine if she was into that, but she just wanted to hang out somewhere for a few hours. Flirting wouldn’t be too bad either, but she really just wanted to talk to people.

"Um... I'm good, seriously, and can you get-" she was cut off by a sudden silence in the room.

While Annie wasn't sure of what happened, she was pretty sure Steve just got Nancy to spill red punch all over her sweater. Regardless of who was at fault there, Billy had turned just enough that she could duck away and leave the house. If she stayed much longer, she wasn't sure anyone would have tried to help her out.

The Halloween air was a bit chilly, so she tugged her leather jacket around herself. Some people were standing around the front yard. No one seemed to notice she was there. It was like the black costume made her blend into the night. At least she could say she really tried. She went to a party and tried to talk to people. It was on her for thinking Billy wouldn't end up creeping her out.

She wasn't sure if she really wanted to take the walk back to her house just yet. Obviously she would have to eventually, but she wished she could have made a friend who could drive her home later. Instead, she was stuck in the middle of the walkway, staring down at some streetlights. It was a bit too bright for her to really see any of the stars.

Someone brushed right past her, almost shoving her to the side, "Hey, what the hell?!"

Her words were either deliberately ignored or she had been too quiet to have been heard in the first place. It seemed that was happening more and more lately. Though, it only took her a couple seconds for her to realize that it had been Steve who brushed her to the side like that. For being the King of Hawkins High, no one seemed to be going after him.

A bit of alcohol still in her system, she jogged a little bit, "Hey, Harrington."

"I already said I was sorry," he snapped, "What do you want?"

Annie blinked, "Well um... I um..."

"Listen, now's a shitty time-"

"Jesus Christ, let me finish my sentence!" Annie exclaimed before shaking her head, "Sorry, just... I know we're not friends or anything, but you look kinda lonely."

Steve grimaced, "Yeah, that's kind of the point."

The Steve Harrington standing in front of her now was a far cry from the guy who helped her sneak her book out in government that day. Maybe turning around and heading out was the better idea. Then she saw Billy starting to head out of the house and decided dealing with a broken-hearted jerk was a bit better than dealing with a creep.

"Well... I guess I don't know what happened-"

"So you wanna find out and gossip with Hargrove or some shit?" he asked, his hands on his hip.

Annie rolled her eyes, "Let me finish! No, I don't even know him that well. In case you didn't notice, I kinda don't have any friends." she noticed him start to open his mouth, "And don't you dare say anything until I'm done. I just-I wanted to check on you. I don't know what happened, and maybe I'm really overstepping here, but I wanted to make sure you're okay."

It was then that Annie noticed Steve looked like he was thirty seconds away from crying his eyes out.

"You're being serious?"

She nodded, "I wouldn't have anyone else to talk to about this... but if you really wanna be alone, I'll let you be."

"Ah, fuck it," he muttered, "Come on, book girl."

Annie couldn't stop herself from laughing as she started walking with him, "I've got a name, you know."

"Yeah, well..." he trailed off, looking down almost like he was trying to wrack his brain.

"Annette or Annie, whatever's easier to remember," she said.

Steve sighed, "Right... sorry, names just aren't really my thing. Nothing's really my thing, though."

"I'm sure that's not true. You're, like, super popular," she replied.

He scoffed, "Yeah, and that's why I'm bullshit."

She could see that Steve was rather pained about the whole thing. What that thing was, she wasn't completely sure. Of course, she wasn't even sure where they were walking off to either.

"Okay, who told you that?"

"Nancy."

Annie blinked in surprise, "Isn't that your girlfriend?"

"Don't remind me," he said, leading them both over to a small park.

She frowned, "I don't know how much it means coming from me, but I don't think you're bullshit."

"You don't even know me," he pointed out, sitting on a swing.

"No, but you're not a dick to me."

"A year ago I would've been."

Annie sat on the swing next to him, "And what the hell does the you from a year ago have to do with any of this?"

"I ki- I fucked up. I fucked up so many times. I shouldn't even be with Nancy right now, she had... every right to dump me and never look back. Apparently she's been wasting her time this whole time," he let out a shaky sigh.

She frowned, "Well... if you don't mind me asking,what's wrong with the both of you now?"

There was a sense of something between Steve and herself. It was obvious there was a barrier. Just because she was helping didn't mean he wanted to open up to her. At the same time, if he hadn't really wanted her there, he could have told her to fuck off at any point. So she chose to set her eyes on some moonflowers in the park.

Steve fumbled around in his pocket before pulling out a cigarette and a lighter, “Do you want one?”

“No sorry… um I quit a while back.”

Another silence fell between the pair as he lit a cigarette. Annie mentally cursed herself. Why would he care that she quit smoking? He most likely just asked the question to be nice.

"It's complicated. Last year was... it was really rough, we went through a lot. We went through it together, you know?" he took a deep breath, "I guess... I really thought we were getting through it, you know? And... I know it's almost a year, and I guess... I guess we're not seeing things the same way."

That was when Steve's voice cracked, and Annie hesitated to shift over so she was closer to him. She put an arm around Steve, letting him cry. Well, she couldn't see he was crying, but she assumed that was what he was doing.

She let out a soft breath, "Well, I'm no shrink, far from it, but I mean... she seemed pretty drunk. Maybe she wasn't thinking."

"I know she meant it, okay?!" he snapped, "Sorry, I... she's got a point."

"Just because someone has a point doesn't mean they're right. All I'm saying is that... maybe there's more you both have to unpack if what you went through was really that serious."

He shook his head, "Even if I'm not bullshit, which I doubt, she said she didn't love me anymore. I planned the rest of my life around us loving each other. I’m such a fucking idiot."

"Okay, I'm sure that's not true, Steve," she said despite having no clue, "She's probably just pissed off about something. You should probably just talk to her when she's sober. You guys seem to have something really good going, and you’re not an idiot."

Whenever she walked around the halls for the short time she was there, they looked pretty cute. Though, she supposed that wasn't everything. It still only seemed right to help him feel like there was something still worth fighting for.

Annie sighed, "All I'm saying is that there's gotta still be something there, right?"

"I guess," he said, "Why're you even here?"

"That's a loaded question, my friend," she said, patting his shoulder.

He turned, squinting his eyes at her, "Okay, why're you sitting here talking to me?"

"Well... a specific chain of events happened and you walked into me. I got kinda pissed because I felt invisible, and you looked like shit so I felt bad. And, well, the rest's history."

"I look like shit?" he asked with a halfhearted laugh.

She shrugged, "Your face is a bit red, but your costume's solid and your hair's still pretty good."

Steve started to chuckle, "Glad my hair's still got it... hey, did you need a ride?"

"Um... I don't, you're probably totally far off from where I live," she said, messing with her hands in her lap.

He shook his head, "Now that's some real bullshit. Come on, book girl, I'm driving you home. You'll get eaten alive out here by yourself."

"Alright, fine," she said, getting up, "I've still got a name, for the record."

Steve looked at her in thought, "Maybe... but I think mine suits you more. I've never seen someone read that much in two weeks."

"Perks of having no friends," she replied with a tight-lipped smile.

He got up, leading the way to his car, "And what does that make me? Chopped liver?"

"Hey, if the shoe fits."

By the time Steve pulled up to her house, it seemed like Steve looked better. No, he wasn't super happy, but he didn't look like he was about to cry his eyes out either. As it turned out, she barely lived a quarter mile away from his house.

She opened the door, "Thanks, um... I'll see you around, yeah?"

"Yeah, good night," he said, "And by the way, you're not as invisible as you think."

Annie paused before smiling, "Thanks for that, seriously."

Once she closed the door and headed inside her house, she could feel the novelty of the night drain. It was probably an anomaly. She was okay with that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed this first full-length chapter, feel free to let me know your thoughts!


	3. Chapter Two: She Will (not) Do The Same For You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the events of the party, Annie hopes for things to simply go back to normal. However, she is not so lucky. It doesn’t help that everything she has seen at home has yet to clear up either.

There were two things Annie expected upon going to school the next day. Either showing off her ability to dance would leave her with several friends or she’d revert back to her state of obsolescence.

However, when people were clearly whispering around her, Annie couldn't help thinking something was off. It wasn't until some guy flipped up her skirt and grabbed her butt that she knew something was wrong.

In the moment she couldn't bring herself to say anything. The rush of pure adrenaline and anxiety made her want to collapse in on herself. By the time she plucked up the rage to turn around and say something, the guy was already too far down the hall for her to say anything.

Maybe it was just some jerk who thought it would be funny. Why that would be funny was beyond her. It left her wishing she were as invisible as she used to think she was.

The first half of the day ended up continuing with the same trend. No one talked to her and she had to actively ignore how people were staring at her. It was like when she first moved in and everyone acted like she didn't belong. She kind of wished everyone would go back to how things were yesterday. When no one looked at her or paid her any mind.

When her skirt got flipped up for the third time she went to her trigonometry teacher before sitting down.

"Hey um... I don't know what's going on but there're these guys who keep harassing me," she said, looking at the ground.

The teacher sighed, "Well, maybe if you wore a longer skirt or toned down that makeup this wouldn’t be an issue... you're lucky I don't give you detention for that."

Annie looked up at the teacher, seeing he had a rather bored, serious look on his face. Her mouth opened to try and get something in. The bell rang and cut off anything she could think to say.

It left her sitting in her seat, wishing she could shrink into nothing. At the very least she now just wanted to wash every bit of eyeliner and red lipstick off of her face. If she could have, she would have taken a chance to switch into sweats instead of her skirt and sweatshirt. Sure, she was wearing tights, but that didn’t seem to stop anyone.

As she walked to lunch, she was suddenly met with Billy walking up beside her, “Hey, you kinda ran off last night.”

“Um… yeah, I erm… I had to, well, you know-”

“Fuck around with Harrington? Figured as much,” he said.

Annie’s eyes widened, “What?! No I-”

“It’s okay, just try to not act like such a slut the next day, it’s embarrassing,” he murmured, reaching under her skirt and squeezing her butt before he walked off.

She stopped walking and leaned against the lockers, unable to breathe. There had to be something she could say, but no words came. A part of her wanted to scream for someone to do something.

Except she knew how that would end if she asked for help again.

When she got to her locker, she pulled out her coat and pulled it on. Never mind that it wasn’t longer than her skirt or how it was already warm in the school.

For once, she wished that she could get a chance to sit at her table alone. To just continue reading her book in peace. She sat her lunch tray down and threw on her headphones from her Walkman despite not playing anything. It made her look like she was in her own little world. 

Maybe if she pretended like no one was watching, they would just leave her alone.

That was wishful thinking as Carol showed up, sitting right next to her. Annie wanted to crawl into her jacket and hide. Was it too much to ask to be left alone?

“Hey, Hardwick, how was it last night? And don’t play dumb,” Carol said, taking off Annie’s headphones.

Annie stared up at her, “I um… I don’t know what you’re wanting me to say here.”

“Do you fuck every sad sap that crosses your path? Or is it just the popular ones?” she asked, pulling Annie’s book from her hand.

She reached in vain, “Hey! I really don’t know what you’re talking about, can you just give that back?”

“Come on, everyone knows you left the party last night with Steve Harrington and made him feel a bit better about his problems,” she replied, handing the book over to Tommy.

Annie’s face scrunched up a bit, “That’s not… that didn’t happen! Hey, careful with that!”

“Then maybe you should try telling everyone here the truth,” he said, starting to rip the paperback in half.

Annie shook her head, “What the hell?!”

“Yeah, what’s going on here?” Steve asked, coming up from behind Tommy and Carol, yanking the partially torn book from Tommy’s hands, “The show’s over, you got it?”

Annie just watched as the pair seemed to get the message and walk away. Then, Steve sat next to her, handing the book back to her.

He let out a sigh, “Sorry I got here a bit late. I guess it could be worse though.”

“Yeah… I guess,” she said, looking up at him, “Oh, um… how did things go with Nancy?”

Steve let out a bitter laugh, “Where to start… she didn’t remember any of it and she couldn’t even say she loved me. She couldn’t even lie about it, it’s all bullshit.”

“Oh… I’m sorry,” she said, looking down at her book, “Maybe you guys just need a bit of space? I don’t know, it’s not over, though, is it?”

He shook his head, “No, I just… I couldn’t deal with her right then. I still can’t.”

There was a long pause before he nodded at her book, “ _ The Exorcist _ , huh? Isn’t that a movie?”

“Um yeah, it was a book first. It’s kinda scarier than the movie, but I don’t know, my imagination just kinda goes a bit crazy,” she said, still not quite looking at Steve.

He frowned a bit, “Hey, don’t worry about those assholes, okay? They know damn well nothing happened.”  
“That’s lovely,” she scoffed, finally glancing up at him, “Everyone else seems to think I’m some kind of slut that’ll do anything with anyone. People won’t stop talking about me and the guys? They keep smacking my ass like it’s some kind of game. It’s fucked up.”

Steve’s brow furrowed, “Well… well why don’t you tell someone?”

“You think I didn’t try?!” she exclaimed, her voice getting a bit higher, “All I got was being told that I was lucky to not get detention for dressing like a slut. And… I guess he might have a point.”

“Hey, that’s not true. You don’t deserve that, okay?”

“That’s a nice sentiment, but I’ve still gotta walk home and I still have to show up tomorrow and the day after that and… ugh just forget it,” she said, resting her forehead on the table.

He shook his head, “You don’t have to walk anywhere unless you really want that. Look, I’m not taking Nance anywhere at the moment. What if I drive you home today?”

“You’d do that?”

“It’s the least I could do, Annie. I might have some tape in my car too. It won’t fix your book great, but you’ll be able to finish it.”

“You’re sure you wanna do that? You don’t think it’ll ruin your chances with Nancy?”

Steve scoffed, “Come on, if there’s anyone who knows Tommy and Carol are full of it, it’s her. Now take the damn offer before I shove you into my car after school.”

Unable to come up with another excuse to decline the offer, the bell rang and she didn’t have much of a choice other than to accept. Which, she still wasn’t sure that Steve actually wanted to drive her home again. Wouldn’t that just make the rumors worse? Things already sounded pretty rough for him and Nancy without her getting involved.

Still, she got through the rest of the school day somehow. Her coat didn’t help all that much and she really just wished she could shrink back even more somehow. That was impossible, though.

Her mind couldn’t get onto the classes put in front of her. When she heard the bell ring to signal the end of the day, she wasn’t even sure Steve remembered. Not wanting to bother him on accident, she started to head out of the school on her own.

After shutting her locker, she felt a hand on her shoulder. Annie was quick to jump and reach into her coat pocket. Though, when she saw it was just Steve, she relaxed the slightest bit.

“Woah, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you,” he said, “Are you ready to go?”

Annie looked at Steve blankly for a moment before nodding, "Yeah, um... totally."

"Cool."

They walked towards his car in an awkward silence. Annie could feel the eyes of other students boring into her. Still, she just continued to walk like she normally would. If she could just act like nothing was happening, then maybe everyone would stop staring. Though, she had her eyes trained on her black vans more than anything else.

Steve couldn't get his BMW unlocked fast enough, and she got right into the passenger seat. Her backpack was on the floor just in front of her feet. Really, she was paying attention to everything except for the boy in the driver's side.

"Do you only talk when you're drunk?" he asked, turning the key to start the car.

She shook her head, "I was tipsy."

"Ah, a really big difference," he remarked as he pulled out of the parking lot, "So how do you do it?"

Annie arched a brow, "Do what?"

"Not notice everything happening around you. It's kinda impressive."

She laughed a bit, "It's called acting. I know everyone's talking shit and staring. Obviously it bothers me, but... I don't even know how I'd react to all of it if I... well, you know..."

"Acknowledged it?"

"Yeah, that," she nodded, "I mean, you're in pretty good shape for a guy who kinda got fucked over by his girlfriend."

Steve looked over at her for a second before shrugging nonchalantly, "It's called acting."

"Oh, whatever," she rolled her eyes though she was smiling a bit.

He laughed, "So, were you just gonna walk everywhere for the whole school year?"

"Probably."

"Even when it's snowing?"

She shrugged, "I guess? I've never really dealt with snow, actually."

"Okay, then you're not walking. You're close enough to my place, I can pick you up and all that," he insisted.

"What about Nancy?" she asked, though she wasn't sure things would continue for much longer with the pair.

He shrugged, "You're my friend. I'll drive you until you find someone else to do it for you."

"Oh, alright. You don't have to, you know."

"Just take the offer, okay?" he responded as he pulled up to her driveway.

She smiled a bit, "Okay, fine."

"I'll be over here at seven thirty. If you're not out here, you're walking," he said, grinning.

Annie shook her head, "Whatever, see you tomorrow."

With that, she grabbed her things and got out of the car. In minutes, she was back in her house. The only other living thing in the house was Erik. Looking around the living room, she saw her cat resting on the couch.

She pulled her partially-ripped book from her backpack and sighed. There had to be tape around somewhere so she wouldn't make it worse as she read it. The moment still played in her head over and over. In fact, the whole day was on a loop.

There was some duct tape in a drawer. When her book was taped up, she went to the bathroom to wash off her makeup. Maybe it wasn't helping her. Maybe she did put on too much eyeliner. The lipstick could afford to be toned down, and she just wouldn't wear that skirt again.

It took a few minutes of scrubbing to get all the makeup off, but even then she couldn't justify everything in her mind. What made any of that okay? She couldn't really go to anyone. Sure, what Steve did was great, but was it too much to wish she could have stood up for herself? If she could be half as witty as the people she read about or pretended to be in drama class would be a dream come true.

The sun was going down earlier and earlier as the fall slowly became winter. She was beginning to hate having to rely on the lights more and more every day. Ever since her mom left for her business trip, power outages happened. Whatever it was she was seeing when they happened was something she chose to ignore. Who was she going to tell? To the best of people, she would just be lying. At worst, she'd be considered insane. And maybe she was, she couldn't figure that out herself.

As she continued to get through her book, it seemed more and more apparent that reading a horror novel was a horrible idea. Even with some music in the background, that didn't change the odd environment in the house. Her cat even seemed a bit stressed, running up and down the hall.

Still, nothing was going to make her chicken out of finishing the book. Except for the flickering lamp she was using to see what she was reading. She swore under her breath as the power shut off again. 

"Just relax... it's nothing, everything you see is totally meaningless. Your eyes are playing tricks on you. It's fine," she told herself.

This time, there were dark vines all over the living room. She got up and walked to the kitchen, hoping to find a knife. Sure enough, she was able to get one. There wasn't anything there, though. Nothing except for the vines and herself. She couldn't even hear her own cat. 

Then, the lights came on just as suddenly as they shut off and the phone was ringing. Annie rushed over to pick it up, the knife still in her hand. For a moment, she couldn't help wondering if someone was doing this to her.

"Um... hello?" she answered, clenching the knife.

A breath of relief left her when the voice of her mom came on the other end, "Annie, I'm just calling to make sure everything's alright."

"Yeah, totally. I've been going to school, feeding the cat, all that good stuff," she said.

"Good, nothing too crazy going on over there?"

"Nah, it's um... pretty boring, actually."

They talked like that for a few more minutes. Annie didn't want to worry her mom with a bunch of stuff that probably wasn't actually happening. That was the last thing she wanted to do. Surely all this would blow over. Rumors and delusions and anything in between. It had to solve itself because she didn't know what that would mean otherwise.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi there, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! If you did, please let me know in the comments it really helps with motivation!


	4. Chapter Three: Don't Lose Your Head

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With rumors still flying around, things have yet to get any easier for Annie. Coupling that with her terrifying illusions, it’s easy to see why it is difficult for her to not fall apart underneath everything.

“Another book already?” Steve asked as Annie got in his car.

She shrugged, “Yeah… I only had a little over a hundred pages left so I kinda went for it.”

“I think that’s gonna take you a bit more time to get through,” he said, glancing over at her as he pulled out of her driveway.

“It’d also take a bit more effort for some asshole to rip it apart.”

“Ah, you got me there.”

Annie laughed a bit, “It’s whatever. I’ve been meaning to read this for a while now. Like, my dad’s this big, fancy literature professor. He said  _ War and Peace _ was the biggest waste of time and space, so I’m gonna see if he’s right or if he’s full of shit as usual.”

“So you’re reading out of spite?” he asked, furrowing his brows, “Is he gonna say anything?”

She fidgeted with the corner of the hardcover book, “Well, I’m not sure he’s ever gonna know. He kinda stayed in New York. I haven’t seen him in… almost a month I think.”

“Oh.”

Annie shrugged, “It’s not a huge deal, my mom and I are figuring it out.”

The rest of the car ride was filled with a rather awkward silence. Maybe if she hadn’t said anything about her family, the remainder of the ride would have been better. At the same time, there were more awkward things she could have easily brought up, but didn’t.

Soon enough, Steve pulled into a parking spot at the school. Annie thanked him before getting out and going off to the school. Maybe it was abrupt, but she didn’t think Steve wanted to talk to her too much.

Not that she took that too personally, he had plenty of issues of his own. Then again, so did she. That was evidenced by the lack of makeup on her face and the clothes she wore. After all, flipping up overalls was impossible. With a flannel and shirt on top of all that, she was sure she would be fine today. Maybe all the rumors stopped overnight and there was something else going on.

However, as Annie walked, she could hear the whispers still. Just like yesterday. She carefully dodged a couple guys in the hall as she went to her locker. If she just laid low, it would blow over. It had to blow over at some point. Then she saw her locker.

_**"PROPERTY OF MISTRESS ANNETTE HARDWICK, A COCKSUCKING SLUT"**_ was scrawled sloppily on the locker. Her eyes widened and immediately she rushed up to it, trying to rub it off with the sleeve of her flannel. When none of the black sharpie came off onto her dark green sleeves, she clenched the grip on her book. This simply wasn't happening.

A part of her wanted to curl up and cry right then. Everyone was staring and she could feel the eyes boring into her back. She bit the inside of her cheek to the point it almost drew blood.

"I don't think that's gonna come out, real shame," said a voice belonging to Billy Hargrove.

Annie crossed her arms, "Go fuck yourself."

"Shouldn't you be doing that for me?" he asked, leaning in close.

She swallowed hard and backed up before turning and walking off. It had to have been him. The way he looked at her made her wish she could have turned invisible. Why hadn't she said something? There had to have been some biting remark she could have given, but nothing came out. Soon enough, she found herself sitting under a stairwell.

A moment later, Steve ducked under. It was clear he was more cramped in the space than Annie was. 

He crouched down next to her, "Hey, Annie, I'm so, so sorry-"

"It's not your fault," she said, staring at the white linoleum.

Steve sighed, "But isn't it? Look, I can try and help you paint over it or something or request another locker. I just... I'm sorry."

"You don't have to do any of that. I'll just get through today and maybe everyone can find someone else to poke fun at over the weekend," she replied.

"Hey, just take the help, okay? And maybe I can rip that Hargrove guy a new one for your trouble."

She let out a small laugh, "I'd love to see that, but I can take care of myself."

"I'll do it, can't have some asshole picking on my friend," he said right before the bell rang, "But seriously, are you sure you can hack it today? I can take you home or something and I can try to clear everything up."

Annie nodded, moving to get up, "I can take it, okay?"

At least, that was what she thought as she went to biology. It was just a few hours and then she was free for a whole weekend. Surely she could get through the knots in her stomach for the day.

Nothing let up, though. A few notes asking her if King Steve could still "get it" was the tipping point for her. Maybe no one touched her today, but the notes managed to hold the exact same sentiment. It made her want to run and wash her face despite the fact nothing was on it.

Having decided to then blow off the remainder of the day, she slipped a note into Steve's locker so he knew she went home. Maybe he cared, maybe he didn't. She wasn't really sure. That didn't stop her from shoving her headphones from her Walkman on and turning up the music all the way as she left the school.

The walk home was rather uneventful, and before she knew it she was right back in her house. A part of her was tempted to reach over to the phone and call up her mom. Except, she was probably doing important work at the conference she was at and Annie stopped herself. Although, this felt like the sort of emergency her mom said to warn her about.

Then again, so did the illusions she kept seeing. They only seemed to get worse with every passing day. It wasn't like she could tell anyone, though. Had she told someone like Steve or a teacher, she would be written off as crazy.

Maybe that was it, she was just going crazy from the loneliness. When her mom got back, it would all be fine. Sure, she had Erik, but he hardly counted as a conversationalist. She dropped her backpack and flopped on the couch with a sigh. A whole day left in front of her and nothing to do for it. It wasn't long before Annie got to her bag and dug through for her copy of  _ War and Peace _ .

There wasn't much else for her to do other than to get lost in the story of a few Russian families going through trials and tribulations as Napoleon threatened to invade their country in the backdrop. So she found herself getting wrapped up in the beginning of the story. Though, with how comfortable she was in the position she was laying in, she soon drifted off with the book in her hands.

How long she had slept for was beyond her. It felt like something was moving on top of her. She slowly opened her eyes, expecting to see it was her cat, sprawled across her stomach. Instead there were all kinds of slimy creatures crawling on her. They almost looked like slugs but they had hind legs. For a moment, all Annie could do was stare. Then she realized they were all over her arms and her hands and legs and on her face.

The slime was all over her hands and she felt one on her mouth. She was quick to try and slap it off only to realize the whole living room was covered with the same creatures.

"This isn't real. This isn't real. This can't be happening," she repeated, her voice cracking before she started screaming.

Her screams echoed throughout the house and it felt like her throat was being scratched raw. Annie shut her eyes tightly, wishing they would just go as she screamed. And just like that, nothing. When her eyes opened, there was nothing on her. Instead there was a rapid knocking at the front door and the sound of it opening.

On instinct, she grabbed her book and hurled it at the tall figure that rushed into the room. There was a sound of the novel colliding with someone and then hitting the floor. Upon realizing who ran in, Annie put her hands over her mouth.

"Ope!" Steve exclaimed, rubbing his shoulder that had gotten hit, “What the hell was that for?”

Annie got up from the couch and rushed over to him, "I-I'm so sorry, I didn't... I didn't realize it was you. I mean, you kinda broke into my house."

"Um yeah 'cause you were screaming bloody murder," he said before looking at her, "What happened to you?"

"What do you mean?" Annie asked, knowing she wasn't covered in the slime she had to have imagined.

He pointed at her nose, "You're bleeding."

"Oh... shit, I'll um... be right back," she replied before going to the bathroom.

Sure enough, there was a bit of blood coming from her nose. She grabbed a couple squares of toilet paper to clean it. For some reason it wasn't bleeding anymore. She mentally cursed herself, sure that Steve was going to want to know what happened.

Annie walked back out, "Sorry about that... kinda had a bad dream or something. Um what's up?"

"Or something... are you sure you're not gonna tell me what's got you freaked out enough to hurl the biggest book I've ever seen right at me?" he asked, still rubbing at his shoulder, “You’ve got a good arm.”

She shook her head, "It doesn't matter, like I said, it’s just a bad dream. What do you need?"

"Well, I didn't tear Hargrove a new one, that's for sure," he muttered, sitting on the love seat, "I know I've kinda asked a lot from you already, but... I need to get Nancy back."

Annie raised her brows, "Ah... hey, do you want some tea or something?"

"Um sure," he said, "Look, I already heard she's running around with Jonathan. I love her too much to just let her go like that, and they guys won’t stop giving me shit for it."

She nodded, listening as she put water in the kettle and put it over a burner, "Well, for all you know it's not what you think. I mean, look at us. Speaking of us, what the hell was with the mistress shit on my locker?"

"Oh that... they think they're being clever. You know, King Steve, they call Nancy a princess, that stuff."

"So I’m the Anne Boleyn to your Henry VIII... Christ that's fucked up," she murmured before shaking her head, "Anyways, do you know what you wanna do?"

He sighed, "I'm probably gonna just do the usual: flowers, an apology, the works. If that doesn't work, I don't know what will."

"Hold up, why do you have to apologize?" she asked, grabbing a couple mugs and finding some chamomile tea.

Steve shrugged, messing with the zipper of his grey bomber jacket, "I don't know, 'cause I called her bullshit while I was sober? It doesn't matter. You've just been really helpful so far, and I know it's a lot, but I just want you to help me out a bit here."

There was a long pause as Annie thought about it. If Nancy really didn't love Steve, wouldn't that just hurt him more when she rejected him? Or even worse, what if she just got back with him despite not having feelings for Steve? No, she didn't know the guy super well, but he had already been so kind to her. All the same, Annie had a good feeling that Steve was going to do this with or without her help.

She sighed, leaning against the kitchen counter, "Alright, fine. I'll help you out with all this."

"You're the best!" Steve replied, grinning, "You know, I think this might just work. She really likes red roses, they're her favorite, actually."

A little while later, they were both sitting in the living room, drinking tea. Granted, Steve probably didn't need it, but she would have felt awkward trying to calm down by drinking tea while Steve just sat there. Besides, there was no reason to rush going anywhere since he came over around lunchtime. If they jumped the gun, who knew where Nancy would have been. Though, what really seemed to grind Steve's gears was that Nancy ditched with Jonathan. Something that had to have been a point of contention in the past. Not that she had any idea.

It wasn't her place to ask. She figured that Steve would talk and open up about things when he felt it was a good time. Asking pressing questions wasn't going to do her any good.

"So... are we gonna talk about your… um... episode?" Steve asked, breaking the silence.

Annie swallowed some of her tea, "What about it? I had a nightmare."

"You threw a book at me. If you had a nightmare that seemed real... that's not good," he said, running a hand through his hair, "Look, I uh... if you need to talk to someone, I kinda get it."

She arched a brow, "How could you get it?"

"Uh... it's not important. Just, you've already done a lot for me, you can talk to me, okay?"

"It's um... so it's this recurring nightmare," she started, staring at her almost empty mug, "I'm in the house and the power kicks off and then things get weird. Like, one time there were vines everywhere and it was all cold and slimy. It looked like it was snowing. And um... well, the one I just woke up from I was covered in these slugs? But they weren't slugs, they had legs and they were crawling all over me and um... yeah."

Steve set his cup on the table, "Annie... are these things actually just you in your sleep?"

"Uh... um yeah, of course," she lied, "I'm probably just stressed being alone all the time."

He sighed, licking his lips, "You're absolutely sure? You're not seeing this stuff while you're awake?"

"Well... no... but um, but what if I did?" she asked, starting to grip her mug tightly.

How did he know she was seeing things? This had to be some elaborate prank. Or maybe the house really was haunted. That stupid kid could have been right.

Steve frowned, "Then we need to get you the hell out of here. Your cat too."

She blinked and sat back in her chair a moment, "What do you mean? Why?"

"I can't tell you... not right here, we gotta get you out. Come on, you can stay over at my place, my parents are never home. You can have the guest room, I'll help you get some stuff," he said, already standing up.

Whatever it was that was going on, Annie had absolutely no idea. All she knew was that Steve seemed to have an air of tension and fear that she hadn't seen before. A part of her wanted to call his bluff and say that he was just screwing around in some super technical and sadistic prank. However, as they rushed to get her things together, she started to realize he was being serious. Which made everything she had dealt with the last few days all the more worrying. If she wasn't hallucinating, then what was going on?

What were those things that crawled all over her? She wanted to ask Steve, but he was busy helping get her cat so they could get out faster. Before she could comprehend any part of what was happening, they were in Steve's BMW. Erik meowed periodically as Steve sped off.

He sighed, obviously trying to not appear more freaked out than he was, "Look, I... I don’t know if I can explain all this to you without getting us both killed... fuck I thought we figured this out already."

"What're you even talking about? I'm playing along with all this, but I really need you to explain everything," she said, clutching her fidgety cat close to her chest.

Steve shook his head, soon pulling up to his house, "We don't have much time for that. Come on, let's get your stuff inside."

"Um... are we gonna still try and get you back with Nancy?"

"What? No, we don't have time for that!" he exclaimed, getting out of the car, "Wait, she might know what to do, actually."

Annie rolled her eyes, "Then get the damn flowers, apologize, get back in her good graces or whatever, and try to figure out what the hell's going on!"

"Will you chill out? I'm trying to put all this together!" Steve exclaimed, "Sorry... I know this is probably really stressful for you."

She huffed, setting a dufflebag and then Erik down before shrugging off her backpack, "You know, it might be the tiniest bit less stressful for me if you would tell me what the ever-living fuck is going on! I tell you I'm seeing stuff that’s apparently real and you tell me to get out of my house without telling me why! Now are you gonna tell me what's wrong?"

"Fine, fine, you're right. I just don't know how to explain it quickly. But all you need to know is there's another dimension and there's people-eating monsters in it and your house was flip-flopping back and forth for whatever reason… at least, I think that’s what you were talking about. That's really dangerous, but we'll figure it out," he said, going to put a hand on her shoulder, "And um... you can't tell anyone else otherwise the government's gonna kill you and your parents and your cat and anyone else you care about."

Annie stepped back, crossing her arms, "You're kidding, right? Please tell me you're joking. That doesn't even make any sense! Do you realize how little sense that makes?"

"I know... but if you didn't believe me then why did you let me do this?"

"Um... I... fine, maybe there's something to all this. Let's get the fucking flowers."

Perhaps Steve had a point, she did kind of believe him. Mainly because it was the only explanation, albeit convoluted, to all the things happening in her house that didn't make her seem crazy. He seemed concerned enough for her and for himself for saying all the things he had. They made a quick stop at the grocery store so Steve could pick up the roses. After that, Steve pulled up to what she assumed was Nancy's house.

She gave him a small, assuring smile, "You've got this. Make up with your girlfriend and we'll go from there."

"Yeah. I can do this," he said, getting out of the car and closing the door behind him. 

Now Annie was rooting for him more than she originally had. Mainly out of hope that Steve was right in assuming Nancy would know what to do. However, as she watched, she watched their plan grind to a halt thanks to some kid.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi there, if you liked this chapter please let me know! I always appreciate feedback!


	5. Chapter Four: Attempts in Babysitting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After Steve’s failed attempt to get Nancy back, he and Annie have much larger problems on their plate brought to their attention by none other than Dustin Henderson.

Annie was quick to step out of the car to find out what was going on. Though, whatever the kid’s name was, she was quick to recognize him. It was hard to not remember the curly hair and that hat.

"Woah, what's going on here?" she asked, running up to Steve and the kid.

The curly haired kid huffed, "Why do you have some random chick here with you?"

"Hey, I’ve got a name! Hold up, you're the asshole who told me my house was haunted!" she exclaimed.

He ignored the comment, "Come on, Steve, I need the bat! We gotta go now!"

With that, the kid proceeded to continue yelling about how they needed to leave as he rushed into the passenger seat of the car. Annie scoffed, rolling her eyes as she was forced to take the backseat. The nerve of this child truly astonished her.

"Wait, what's going on, Dustin?" Steve asked as he drove off.

The kid took a deep breath, "I think I found a baby Demogorgan and I accidentally kept it as a pet."

"A what now?" Annie asked, interjecting, "Does anyone wanna explain what just happened?"

Steve sighed, "Annie, meet Dustin. Dustin, meet Annie. She's dealing with something that I think might be the Upside Down."

"Wait, that's what you call it? Why, though?" she asked.

Her comment was ignored as Dustin continued to go on about some monster that he didn't expect. Whatever was going on was now completely beyond her. It seemed Steve was taken aback as well. Maybe having two inter-dimensional issues in one day was a bit on the unbelievable side. What was more unbelievable was that she was older than this kid and she had to sit in the middle of the backseat so she could sit up closer to hear what was going on over the music Steve was playing.

Dustin glared at her, "Steve, she can't know this stuff."

"She's a part of this stuff. I can't take her home. We'll just go see what you're talking about and go from there," Steve insisted.

What was eating this kid was beyond her. Instead, she just wanted to know what was really going on. Something which she only had the vaguest idea of. Neither guy seemed keen on elaborating about what they were dealing with. That only left her with a sick feeling in her stomach.

Annie huffed, "Hey, it's me, the girl who's involved all this stuff. Are you guys gonna elaborate on what the hell 'this stuff' is supposed to mean? Or am I just supposed to sit back here and shut up?"

"Would that be too hard for you to do?" Dustin asked.

"Hey, can you two get along for five minutes? Where're we going?" Steve asked, looking over at Dustin.

"You've got the nail bat on you?"

"Yeah, in the trunk, always have."

"Why the fuck do you have a nail bat in your trunk?!" Annie exclaimed.

Steve sighed, "Yes, I've got a nail bat in my trunk. That's not the point. Where am I driving?"

"My house. It's in the cellar."

"And you're sure that... that this thing isn't just a lizard?"

"Yes, Steve, I'm sure it's not a lizard."

"But how do you know?"

"Because it grew and I caught it eating my cat!" Dustin yelled.

Steve stayed quiet for a few moments, "Oh... oh, yeah, yep, okay."

The remainder of the drive stayed completely silent aside from the music playing in the background. Most likely due to Steve not knowing what to say next and because Annie wasn't sure what to do with most of the information in front of her. What kind of monsters just appeared and grew and ate cats? Were those the things crawling over her earlier that day? She tried to not wonder too much despite wishing someone would spell out what was going on to her.

Since it was the middle of autumn, the sky was starting to darken earlier and earlier. By the time the three of them made it to Dustin's, it was pretty dark outside. Steve parked in the driveway and the three of them got out. They were first led to the doors of the cellar which were locked shut.

"I swear if this is some Halloween prank..." Steve warned, clutching the bat in his hands.

Dustin shook his head, "It's not."

"Wait!" Steve stopped himself from banging on the door to turn to Annie, "Why don't I get a nail bat or something?"

Steve shrugged, "You really think you can take it?"

"Well, if you get eaten alive, I don't wanna be next," she retorted, crossing her arms.

He sighed, "Okay, Dustin, get her something from your shed."

The kid came back a couple moments later with a pitchfork. Annie took it, holding it and trying to gauge its weight and how she could use it. This couldn't be too different from the stage combat class she took a couple of years before. Well, aside from the fact that if she screwed up she would wind up dead.

"I can work with this," she said, holding it almost like she would a broadsword.

Steve went ahead and unlocked the cellar door and opened it, his movements hesitant as he did so. The door was open and Annie clutched the handle of her pitchfork, her grip tight. She was unsure of what to expect, but she was mentally preparing herself for anything.

Nothing. There was only the dark stairway that led down to the cellar. Dustin was more than happy to let Steve go down first. Annie followed close behind Steve. While she didn't want to admit she almost tried to hide behind him, she did just that.

Only, when the pair got down, there was still nothing. No monster to speak of. She looked around, almost prepared for something to burst out of the wall and attack them like the kool-aid man. Steve picked up something gross and slimy from the ground.

Annie slowly walked toward a massive hole in the wall, "Um... do you think that's always been there?"

"Holy shit," Steve murmured before rushing back to the bottom of the stairs, asking for Dustin to come down.

Once Dustin was down with the pair, they were able to come to the conclusion that Dart had dug out of the cellar. As tempted as Annie was, the guys didn't let her go into the tunnels herself. Though, it seemed that those things had to lead somewhere. Maybe it was best to not find out. Nothing good could possibly come out of wherever it led.

Unsure of the next move, Dustin ran in to tell his mom that he was spending the night with one of his friends. Surely with putting their heads together, the three of them could come up with something. That was the hope as the three of them piled back into Steve's car. Dustin somehow managed to snag shotgun from Annie yet again. How she was losing to some annoying middle schooler was beyond her.

Soon enough, the three of them were sprawled about Steve's living room. Dustin laid across the couch while Annie managed to snag the recliner which left Steve on the floor. None of them had it in themselves to actually eat dinner.

"Well, we know they like blood," Steve suggested, "Maybe if we got some raw meat or something? That would draw them in, right?"

Dustin rolled his eyes, "I'm telling you, some nougat would be the way to go."

"Maybe for whatever creepy relationship you had with Dart, but there's more than one. We know that. If blood worked before, that's probably the best way to go," Annie said, her knees tucked up to her chest.

The conversation went around in circles for forever. At least, until they decided on going to the butcher's first thing in the morning. Hopefully, Dustin would be able to get to some of his friends involved. Not that Annie was sure how a bunch of thirteen-year-olds were going to help, but this was their only option given that the sheriff was nowhere to be found.

Eventually, Dustin wound up conking out on the couch. That left just Annie and Steve to their own devices. It was silent for a good while. After the last few months, Annie wasn't sure if she really liked the quiet all that much. And in the new setting, even with Erik roaming around the house, she couldn't help feeling like the whole place was disquieting.

She was the first to break the silence, "I'm sorry you didn't get to talk to Nancy."

"It's um... it's whatever, I'll get to it eventually. We've gotten back from worse," he said, running a hand through his hair, "I'm sorry you had to deal with all this. You know, if this is too much for you-"

"I'm stopping you right there," Annie said softly, "You're not going through this alone, okay? And no, Dustin doesn't count. He's smart, but he's pretty much a child."

Steve shook his head, "I'm serious, this is serious shit. It's like... could get you killed level of serious."

"All the more reason to stick around. Steve, you're my only friend in this shitty town. Now, I'm not gonna say I know how to actually fight with a monster, but I know how to use that pitchfork. Just trust me on this," she said, slipping down from the recliner to sit next to Steve against the coffee table.

He let out a small sigh, "You're sure?"

"Well, knowing the context of all this would be nice."

"Okay... you've heard of Will Byers, right?"

A long while later and Annie knew all the events that took place in Hawkins just a year prior. How Will Byers vanished into an alternate dimension and almost died. More importantly, Steve's involvement and how he obviously blamed himself for a death that had nothing to do with him. All of it leading up to the truth behind what happened on Halloween. The fact that Nancy tried to make him feel culpable made her blood boil. Whether she was drunk or not, Annie wasn’t sure how Steve was so forgiving.

She frowned, crossing her arms, "It's not your fault, you know."

"What's not?"

"Everything with Barb. It's not your fault that she was at a party you kind of invited her to. And it's not your fault that she left either. More importantly, it's not your fault that she died that way. You did nothing wrong, Steve. A monster did that, a monster you couldn't have possibly known about. Nancy's wrong about all that."

"What if she isn't?"

Annie turned to face Steve properly, "She is. Sure, maybe you were a dick a year ago, but that's not a crime. Your douchebaggery had nothing to do with Barb dying. I'm sure you never wanted her dead."

"No, never... fuck I just... I feel awful about it, but I couldn't tell anyone. I'm sure you won't be able to tell anyone after this is over either," he replied.

She let out a small yawn, "That's fine, but it's not like you're in this alone now."

"Yeah, I guess not. You should get some sleep though..."

It took almost no time for Annie to pass out. The events of the day were exhausting in their own oddly cruel way. She had nothing to do other than pass out. Though, she suddenly snapped awake right as the sun was starting to come up. It took her a moment to realize she fell asleep on Steve's shoulder. Not wanting any remarks from Dustin, she carefully made her way over to the recliner again.

This time when she woke up, it was because Dustin was shaking her awake. They had to get up and get started on their plan.

Steve groaned as he got up from where he sat, "Can you give us five more minutes?"

All Dustin gave them time for was a sorry excuse of a granola bar for breakfast and a few minutes to get ready. He didn't even give time for them to change clothes. So Annie spent her time brushing her hair and teeth. The nerve of this kid was more than likely going to be the death of her.

Dustin finally got a hold of his friend Lucas as the three of them grabbed the things they needed. The guys decided to throw the meat around and Annie was carrying her weapon and the gasoline.

Asking the butcher for a bunch of raw beef had been something Annie thought would derail the plan. However, they were given exactly what they needed without question. It made her wonder what else the guy had to give out to people.

She walked right behind Steve and Dustin as they tossed the meat along the train tracks. This was supposed to lead to the junkyard. Then, there was supposed to be a bus that they could reinforce so they could safely light Dart on fire. Whether that would actually work or not was beyond her. However, it was the one plan that all three of them were able to agree on.

Dustin was going on more about Dart since Steve asked. A story that was pretty much beyond both her and Steve. It was more lost on her since she woke up to those things crawling all over her. The last thing on her mind was keeping one for a pet. They were disgustingly slimy.

"So... you kept this thing to impress a girl?" Steve asked.

Dustin shrugged, "I guess."

"And what made you think that would work?"

"It's a new species, an interdimensional slug! It's awesome, who wouldn't be impressed by that?"

Steve sighed as he tossed another piece of meat on the ground, "Kid, I hate to break it to you, but that's not how you impress girls."

"Yeah, well we don't all have your hair," Dustin said.

Annie let out a laugh, knowing for a fact Steve spent more time on his hair than she did on hers that morning. In all fairness, there was something to be said for that. He looked good. Then again, he always had. The girls in her classes would not stop talking about that.

Steve rolled his eyes, "It's not about the hair. The trick with girls is just acting like you don't care."

"That's the shittiest idea I've heard in the last day," Annie remarked.

Ignoring the response he got, Steve went into how there would be a sexual electricity and that there were two types of girls. The kind who liked to have something fast and intense. Then, there were the girls who liked it when the guy went slow and stealthy. Like a ninja. Annie listened as the two of them talked, and she kept her shut when Dustin asked about Nancy. Although, there were plenty of things she had to say about that. Especially when Steve claimed Nancy was different.

Except, she wasn't different. Not really. And in all fairness, Annie wasn't sure that she was all that different from Nancy when it would come down to it. She wasn't all that different from most girls. Sure, maybe not every girl read at the rate she currently did, but she wouldn't be reading that much if she actually had someone to talk to. The point was, Nancy was just as much like the other girls at the school as she was. That would take too much to explain, though, so she kept her mouth shut.

Steve looked at Dustin, "Hold on, you're not falling in love with this girl are you?"

"What? No," he replied.

"Okay, good," he nodded, "'Cause she's only gonna break your heart and you're way too young for that shit."

"You know, giving shitty advice because your love life's going downhill isn't going to do anyone any good," Annie said, unable to keep her mouth shut, "Sorry... but if you really wanna be with a girl, you have to find out what she likes and what you guys have in common. If a girl plays some stupid game of pretending to not care, it's not worth it."

Steve glared at her, "And you know so much about this stuff?"

"Um yeah, believe it or not I've had some experience. Plus, I'm a girl. Kinda makes my advice better by default since I know how girls actually work."

There was a pause between all of them. Annie knew she shouldn't have said anything about Nancy. It wasn't fair, but the advice Steve was giving was awful. That was how guys tried to treat her in the past and it always ended up hurting her more than it ever hurt the guy. She wasn't about to go into that, though. No one needed to know.

"Farbergé," Steve finally said.

"What?"

"Fabergé organics, that's what I use," he said, tossing another piece of meat, "And when your hair's damp. Not wet, damp."

"Damp."

"You do four puffs of the Farrah Fawcett spray. Now, you tell anyone I just told you that, and your ass is grass, you're dead" he said before looking back at Annie, "That goes for you too, Hardwick."

Annie laughed, "You use the same stuff that my mom does. Not that it's bad or anything, it's cute, actually."

"Farrah Fawcett?" Dustin asked, shaking his head.

Steve shrugged, "I mean, she's hot."

After what felt like forever and a few different conversations later, the trio were in front of the junkyard. It was sunny, but Annie could already feel the breeze starting to bite through her green flannel. She hadn't thought to bring her jacket when she had been rushing to leave the house.

Steve took off his glasses, "This will work... Yeah, this will work just fine. Nice job, Henderson."

While Steve and Dustin put the last of the beef in a pile, a boy biked up with a girl on the back. With how the kids all looked at each other, Annie couldn't help thinking that this was the girl Dustin had been talking about.

They were arguing about the girl knowing about all this. That was when Lucas pointed to Annie.

"You told some random chick!" Lucas exclaimed.

"I didn't! Steve did!" Dustin yelled.

Annie waved her arms, "Hey, I'm literally right here. And for your information, I'm just as involved in this as everyone else. Give me a break."

The boys were more intent on arguing than helping to fortify the bus. Instead of worrying about them, Annie went over to a piece of metal that the redhead girl was trying to pick up.

"Here, let me help you out," Annie said, bending down to make it a bit easier.

The girl gave a small smile, "Thanks... um are you in on this prank?"

Annie helped to get the metal against the bus, "I wish it were a prank. Kinda hard to think that when I woke up and these slug things were crawling all over me yesterday."

"What?"

"Yeah, I guess they're from some other dimension and my house is kinda flip flopping dimensions or whatever," Annie sighed as they got another slab of metal to board up the windows of the bus.

Max shook her head, "I don't get why you're trying so hard... hey, you're kinda new here right?"

"Um... yeah, unfortunately. Why?"

"Nothing... just, heard about you or whatever. Being new kinda sucks."

Annie laughed, "I'll drink to that."

"So are your only friends really that Harrington guy and Dustin?"

"Pretty much."

Within a couple hours, Max and Annie wouldn't stop talking as they got the bus ready. There wasn't much time for conversation seeing as the sun was going down earlier and earlier every day, but the two of them were getting a lot done. So once Dustin and Lucas finally decided to help, the sun was going to start heading down soon.

By the time it was sunset, the gasoline was poured and they were all in the bus. Lucas had decided to scout the area, keeping an eye out for Dart. Wherever that monster could possibly be.

After an outburst between Dustin and Max, she left to go on the roof with Lucas. Annie watched as Steve played with his lighter and she also messed with the pocket knife she had in the pocket of her overalls.

"Hold up, you had that the whole time?" Steve asked.

Annie shrugged, "Yeah, why? You think I could use just this against some... glorified Audrey II?"

"Wait a what?"

"Audrey II? You know,  _ Little Shop of Horrors _ , the musical?" she asked, "You know,  _ 'little shop, little shop of horrors, little shop, little shop...' _ huh guess it’s just me."

Both Steve and Dustin stared at her.

"You guys need to get out more."

That was when Lucas screamed about the monster. Annie, Steve, and Dustin were all pressed against each other as they all tried to get a look. Sure enough, there it was. She didn't even know how to describe it as the thing walked around the pile of meat.

Steve shook his head, "It's not taking the bait. Why isn't it taking the bait?"

"Maybe it smells the gasoline?" Annie suggested.

He sighed, "Or maybe it's just tired of cow."

Annie's eyes widened as he went to pick up the bat.

"Wait, what're you doing?" Annie and Dustin asked at the same time.

Steve sighed, tossing the lighter to Annie, "Just light it up when the time's right and keep the kids safe."

Then, Steve turned and went out of the bus. There was no way there was just one of those things. That was too good to be true. Annie shook her head.

"'Keep the kids safe' my ass," Annie muttered before putting the lighter in Dustin's hands, "You got this, okay?"

Annie grabbed the pitchfork and slipped out of the bus quietly. Her heart was pounding out of her chest and her throat felt tight. What was she doing? This was dangerous and could easily get her killed, but she didn't care. Lucas started shouting about another one of the monsters and Annie rushed towards it, going to fight them off.

Steve and Annie were surrounded in no time, and Dustin was screaming for them to get back in. Everything was such a blur of lunging and stabbing that Steve had to tug her towards the bus.

There wasn't much for Annie to comprehend other than that she was sure she stabbed some of those monsters as Steve pulled her back into the bus. He was screaming something, and she was sure it was because she followed him out when he didn't want her to, but she didn't listen. Even when back in the safety of the bus, there wasn't a chance to say anything.

The monsters were trying to get into the bus and for a moment she could only watch in horror. Annie couldn't tell if she was screaming or if that was one of the kids.

"Annie, get it, do something!" Steve yelled before she stabbed at another one of the monsters trying to get in through the windows.

Steve threw a sheet of metal at the door to keep them out. It was quiet for a moment, but then there were thumps coming from the top of the bus. Annie's blood ran cold as she realized there was a way in through the top. They were done for. There were far too many monsters for just her and Steve to take care of.

Max was near the opening at the roof of the bus. Right as the monster appeared and opened its mouth in an odd venus flytrap way, she and Steve ran in front of the kids. This was it. Getting in front of the kids was going to be in vain, Annie knew that. She was sure Steve was aware too. That didn't stop him from yelling in the screaming creature's face.

All of a sudden, there wasn't any screaming. The monster's mouth closed and its head turned up towards the sky. Then, it turned around and left with the rest of the monsters. Annie let out a deep breath, realizing that they weren't dead yet.

"Do you think Steve scared it off?" Lucas asked as all of them slowly filed out of the bus.

Steve stepped out into the night, shaking his head, "No... no way, they're going somewhere."

Unsure of where that place was, all of them tried to follow anyway. The kids were a little bit in front, leaving Annie with only Steve to talk to. That was, if she could manage to comprehend what she just went through.

"So... are we really about to take these kids with us?" Annie asked.

He shrugged, "I guess. If we didn't, they would just follow us. These kids are persistent little shits. It's better they have someone to protect them."

"Because we did such a great job?"

"Hey, we did our best and you know it," he insisted.

The conversation didn't go any further because Dustin and Lucas were starting to argue. Steve didn't help by only confirming that Dustin did keep Dart.

Annie rolled her eyes, "If you guys don't get your shit together, then we're all going home right now, get it?!"

A shrieking in the distance stopped all of them from saying anything more. For a moment, Annie thought she screwed all of them over, but nothing came. They ended up following the noise out to a clearing. The monsters were going to the lab. A place Annie only knew about due to Steve telling her the night before.

It was a long walk, one where none of them really said anything. If nothing else, because they all knew that nothing good could come of all this. She was leading these kids into something more dangerous than she could even understand. How Steve was doing it without hesitation was beyond her. Maybe he wasn't thinking. It seemed like he was almost on autopilot the whole time.

They were soon getting closer to the lab and Annie heard someone calling out to them. Much to her surprise, it was none other than Nancy and Jonathan.

"Steve?" they both asked before Nancy looked at Annie, "Who're you?"

"Um I'm Annie," she replied, clutching onto her pitchfork.

There wasn't a whole lot of time for introductions as the lab seemed to be overrun with those monsters just as thought. It meant there wasn't even a chance for Annie to feel sorry for Steve as she started to put together Nancy's lack of jealousy and the way she looked at Jonathan. Especially when she was being thrown into a police cruiser minutes later.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! I hope you enjoyed this chapter, if you liked it then please tell me your thoughts! I love hearing back from people!


	6. Chapter Five: Steve Harrington and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Once everyone is at the Byers’ household, many issues start to make sense. With everyone working together, the Upside Down may finally be defeated.

Perhaps the only thing worse than the monsters was realizing that Steve didn't have a chance with Nancy. Obviously, Annie wasn't going to say that out loud. Not when she could tell from Steve's pacing that he already knew. It took a lot to not say anything to Nancy, but there were more important things than this and if she was going to say anything, Annie was sure it could wait.

What they were going to do about all of this was beyond her. She had a million questions, but she didn't ask a single one. Every time she almost did, she was reminded of how her dad was when he got stressed, which was almost all the time. At the time, it seemed like anything she did would annoy him. There was always something on her mind and there was a time when she would have said every single thing that popped in her head. Except, one day the man got so annoyed that he snapped and told her to shut up.

As that circled her mind, she sat off to the side in the kitchen of the Byers' house, trying to process everything on her own. She had been so close to dying. All of them had. What would have happened if she had? Would anyone aside from her mom care? There were so many things she wanted to do, but she hadn't. It could have been too late and there was nothing she could have done.

A hand on her shoulder made her jump, but she relaxed upon realizing it was just Steve, "Sorry... um, how're you holding up?"

"I'm fine," she said, tugging her flannel around herself, "Are you okay?"

He arched an eyebrow, "Also fine."

"Steve-"

"Don't... you don't have to tell me."

"I wasn't gonna say anything about that," she said, though she stopped when she heard Mike starting to talk about Bob Newby.

While she never got a chance to meet the guy, the idea of anyone being eaten alive by those monsters was horrific. It was something straight out of the horror novels she read to pass the time. Something only highlighted when Dustin started to compare all of this to Dungeons and Dragons. The demodogs, as he called them, were all supposed to be part of some sort of hive mind. A Mind Flayer was supposedly the one in control. Annie knew nothing about the game, but she supposed there could be points made.

Those points finally drew the conclusion that they needed to trap Will somewhere he didn't recognize. That way he wouldn't be able to spy and figure out where they were. The shed ended up being the perfect place.

Annie was focused on helping Max tape up pieces of cardboard together. That was easy and menial enough. Besides, she felt like she had to make herself scarce so Steve could talk to Nancy. Well, it was more like she didn't want Nancy thinking any of those dumb rumors were true. It was obviously over between them. Why Nancy didn't say anything about that to Steve was beyond her. There wasn't time to think about that. They needed to get the shed ready before Will woke up.

Soon enough, it was back to just a waiting game. One that made Annie want to crawl out of her skin. It reminded her of when she was waiting to find out which of her parents got full custody not even a month ago. A decision that she didn’t think would ever make her happy regardless of who ended up with her.

She sat on the couch, staring off into space as Steve swung his bat around.

"Your swing is fine, you know. It's checking your blind spots that you'd wanna look out for," she said.

He looked over, "What?"

"Like earlier... you weren't checking your surroundings."

"Why do I need to do that when I've got you saving my ass?"

She smiled a bit despite herself, "Because maybe I'll slip up."

"Hey," he sat next to her, "Don't think like that. We're gonna be fine."

Annie gave him a look, "I'm not one of the kids, Steve, I know this might not end well."

"Well with that thinking it won't," he commented.

She shook her head, "Sorry, um I just didn't expect to almost die like this. I mean, I always expected some weird shit to happen in Seattle or New York. Inter-dimensional monsters in a small town wasn't what I expected to be the wake-up call."

"For what?"

"That death's inevitable and I've spent the last few months just being miserable and alone," she let out a small laugh, "It just- it seriously sucks like you wouldn't believe."

The lights started to flicker like crazy. Annie was quick to grab her pitchfork from the corner of the room. This wasn't happening. This couldn't be happening. For a moment she was so sure that the room was going to turn into the Upside Down. She all but shrank into herself until the lights went normal again. Everyone was fine. Will didn't know where they were.

A few minutes later and they figured out Will was still communicating through Morse Code. Annie watched as the message was written out in front of them.

"Close gate," they all said together, trying to figure out what it could mean.

Suddenly, the phone started ringing and it wouldn't stop until Nancy pulled it out and threw it to the ground. A sense of dread overcame the room.

"Do you think he heard that?" Max asked.

Steve shook his head, "Phone ringing... that could be anywhere."

However, the screeching in the distance was enough to show that Will somehow knew exactly where they were. The demodogs were going to come back and there was no choice but to fight them. Sure, this time there were more people who could fight than Steve and herself, but there was an army of those monsters and they all knew it.

This was futile, but Annie wasn't about to say that and neither was anyone else. Instead they all stood, and she clutched her pitchfork tighter than ever before. The screaming came from all over and Annie kept an eye on the windows she could see.

A demodog burst in through the window, causing all of them to scream. Only, it was dead. Something had to have killed it, which only caused more questions to circle through Annie's head. She was ready to fight whatever came through that front door as it unlocked and opened. Only, she found herself putting down her weapon when she realized it was just a girl. Someone who couldn't have been any older than the kids she was helping to take care of.

Some things started to piece together in Annie's head as Mike rushed up to the girl, he called her Eleven. It seemed that the girl Steve talked about the night before wasn't dead after all. Though, from how Mike was going up to Hopper, she was pretty there was more to what was going on.

For the pair having moved to another room, she could hear Mike yelling pretty well. She stared at the floor, trying to not think about all the times she could hear her parents fight in that small, New York apartment. Instead, she just watched as the other kids reunited with Eleven.

"So, how'd you find out about all this?" Nancy asked, ripping her from her thoughts, "I mean, Steve obviously told you, yeah?"

Annie nodded slowly, "Yep..."

"That's funny, because when I wanted to tell Barb's parents about all this, he wasn't on board," she said, looking her over.

She shrugged, "Well, was their house flip-flopping dimensions as well, or were you just trying to satiate your own guilt?"

"Wait, what're you talking about?"

"I found out about this shit because I ended up telling Steve about how I was seeing things in my house. He got me out, and we were looking for you, actually. He wanted to apologize to you," she sighed, giving a tight-lipped smile, "And it turns out, he wasn't the one who needed to apologize. I'm new, but I'm not blind."

Nancy's eyes widened a bit before she walked outside. Perhaps it was a little bit much for Annie to say, but she wasn't about to play into whatever Nancy was trying to do. How was she supposed to feel sympathy for someone who so clearly hurt her only friend in this town?

Not that any of it mattered because everyone was talking about splitting up. Joyce and Jonathan were going to take Will to get rid of the part of him that was the Mind Flayer. Meanwhile, Hopper and Eleven were going to go back to the lab and close the gate. That left what was supposed to be her, Steve, and Nancy taking care of the kids. Something that was sure to go very well. Still, Annie wasn't about to go with either of the other two groups. She had no interest in putting herself back in danger and having yet another near-death experience. The ones she had already were more than enough.

Annie stayed in the house, knowing that all she and the kids could do was try to clean up the house. There was a broken window, and it did leave the house feeling cold. Before they did that, though, she went out with the kids to watch as they said goodbye to Eleven.

Steve cleared his throat, "So, uh, it's just gonna be us babysitting."

"Oh? What happened?"

"I let her go. She's helping Jonathan and Mrs. Byers," he sighed, "It was never gonna work. You knew that, though. Sorry I dragged you into all this over her."

Annie turned and looked up at him, "Hey, if it wasn't for you, I could be stuck in that Upside Down crap right now and things would be a lot worse. And, for what it's worth, you've been a good friend too."

"Thanks."

Just like that, it was the two of them with the kids. What they were going to do in the meantime was beyond her. Probably just more sitting around and being prepared for the worst. The kids had their walkies, so if anything happened, she was sure they would find out.

Dustin was wrapping the dead demodog in a quilt, "Hey, can I get a little help here?"

"Um, what're you doing?" Annie asked.

He huffed, "We gotta preserve this. One of you needs to hold this so I can get it into the fridge so we can keep the body from decomposing.

Annie looked at Steve, "You know, if you take this, you get to be the best babysitter. I'll just be mediocre at my job."

"Seriously?" Steve sighed, though it didn't take long for him to relent and just pick up the dead demodog.

While they worried about taking care of that, Annie decided to help Max and Lucas clean up the broken glass. A simple task to keep her from thinking about what was going on. Mike kept pacing until Lucas said something. Sure, she could understand where the kid was coming from, but it was so much safer for all of them this way. None of them had powers, Eleven clearly did. 

Steve walked up to them, "Look, the coach makes a play and bottom line, you've gotta do it."

"This isn't a stupid sports game!" Mike snapped, "Anyways, we're not in the game, we're on the bench."

He nodded, "Yeah... right. Right, and the point is, yep, we're on the bench and there's nothing we can do."

"I could offer a cool theater analogy," Annie said, getting ignored.

"Wait, but the demodogs are a hive mind, they were called away earlier," Dustin pointed out.

That was when the kids started to get an idea that quickly spiraled. Annie looked at Steve like they were crazy. Because they were. If they all died, then what?

She shook her head, "Wait, um, you guys?"

"We could go in here and burn it-"

"Yeah, that's a no," Steve said, holding the dish towel "We promised to keep you shitheads safe so we're gonna stay here on the bench and wait for the starting team to do their job, understand?"

Mike scoffed, "This isn't a stupid sports game!"

"I said, does everybody understand that?!" he gestured with the towel, “I need a yes.”

A car engine was heard in the distance and Max ran to see what was going on. All Annie needed to hear was that it was her brother before realizing that perhaps this wasn't the safest option after all. There was a certain look of concern on her face, and Steve looked at her.

"Hey, I'm gonna take care of this, okay? You just need to stay here and make sure the kids don't do anything stupid. And I mean it this time, I don't trust him seeing you involved with all this," Steve insisted.

Annie opened her mouth to argue, but could only bring herself to nod. If she couldn't even defend herself to that guy a day ago, what good would she be now? And maybe Steve really would fix all this. There was a lot he had done already. They were going to be fine. Nothing was going to happen to the kids, especially Max.

So she watched the best she could through the front door window. That meant she wasn't paying attention to the kids like she should have been. It looked like it was getting intense between the two guys. She reached into her pocket for her switchblade. While she was sure Steve could handle this, she wanted to be ready just in case. Then, Billy pointed at the window and she deflated.

She glared at the kids, "What part about keeping your heads down did you dumbasses not get?!"

There wasn't more time for her to yell because she watched Steve get shoved to the ground and kicked. Her eyes widened and she held tightly to the closed knife in her hand. The door swung open and she moved to get in front of him. She couldn't let the kids get hurt.

"Ah, Harrington's bitch," he shoved her into an end table, "And Lucas Sinclair."

It took a lot to not cry out in pain, but she didn't want the kids to worry about her. She could still move, but hitting the corner of the table made her back ache. And for a moment, all she could do was watch as Billy went right for Lucas. Right as she moved to get up, Steve rushed in and was quick to help her up.

A part of Annie wanted to just go up to Billy and punch him until he was a pulp, but she knew she couldn't do that. Steve would have a chance, though. She let him confront Billy and she stood in front of the kids, fumbling to get her knife open. Though, with Steve getting in a few good hits, Annie felt like he could do it. Until she saw Billy pick up the plate.

"Steve, the plate!" she screamed but it was too late and Billy bashed the plate over his head, causing him to stumble back.

It only got worse from there and all Annie could do was watch in horror as Steve fell to the ground, obviously passed out. Billy started to throw more punches. She had no choice, she had to do something. Steve was dead otherwise. If she could take on those demodogs, surely she could take on some asshole who was beating up her best friend.

In a quick move, she ran up behind Billy and pressed the switchblade to Billy's neck, "Get the fuck off of him!"

He got off of Steve but only to thrash against her to fight for the knife. It was happening in such a blur and she wasn't strong enough to get the upper hand again. She first felt something cut into her cheek and then her back was against the floor. All she could do was scream and try to sink into the floor further.

"You know, I've been waiting for something like this for a few days now," Billy murmured, tossing the knife aside.

Annie kept her eyes shut, unable to say anything as she felt his mouth on her neck. If she could just make herself smaller or do something. There was something hard against her thigh and she tried to slide out, but there wasn't any give. She couldn't do anything. For all she knew, Steve was dead and she wasn't any better off. A stench of cigarette smoke and musk was all she could smell and it made her feel like gagging.

Then, Billy made a confused noise and there was suddenly less pressure on top of her. She opened one eye, realizing no one was on top of her. Max was screaming something, but it wasn't registering. All she could hear was a ringing of sorts. What did register was that Steve was only a few feet away and she crawled over to him.

His face was covered in blood and was already swelling. Still caught up in everything, she tried shaking him.

"Steve? Steve, come on, I need you to wake up for me," she whispered, looking for any signs that he was going to wake up, "Please, I can't do this shit alone, I really need you right now."

Dustin slowly approached her, sitting on the other side of Steve, "Annie, he's just passed out. He's still breathing, see?"

Sure enough, she could see his chest rising and falling, "Right... yeah... you're right, sorry."

"It's okay, we just need you to drive us where we tell you to," he said.

Annie's eyes widened, "We're not going anywhere!"

"Do you really wanna stay here where Billy is? Come on, if you stay calm about this, we can bring Steve along," Dustin replied.

That was all the convincing Annie needed in that moment. Getting the kids and Steve as far away from Billy as possible was the goal. Dustin put a few band-aids onto Steve to try and make her feel better. He offered her one for the cut on her cheek, but she didn't take it. Instead, she took the car keys to Billy's Camaro.

No, she had never driven before in her life, but how hard could it be? She watched Steve do enough of it. Surely she could figure this out on the fly. When she turned the key, the engine roared to life. She just needed to go from park to drive. Except the car was moving without her pushing anything.

"What the fuck, why's this thing moving?!" she exclaimed.

Max looked at her, "Have you ever driven before?"

"No."

"Get the brake, put it back in park. I'll do it," Max insisted.

It didn't take more than that for Annie to be in the backseat so she could be right there with Steve. He had been hit so hard and a part of her worried he wasn't going to wake up. How was she supposed to do all this without him? They were supposed to be co-babysitters. She didn't have a clue about taking care of these kids. Hell, she was letting one of them drive. That wasn’t a hallmark of good babysitting.

She held an ice pack to Steve's head and she felt him stir.

"Nancy?" he murmured, looking at Mike.

Annie breathed a sigh of relief, letting Dustin explain everything. All that mattered was that Steve was awake, probably not completely okay, but he was awake nonetheless. 

Then he looked up at her, "Wait. If you're not driving then..."

Steve was soon screaming for Max to stop driving. It didn't help the situation and soon enough they were all screaming and yelling at each other. Though, they somehow made it to the spot in question just fine.

She took the time to help Steve get out of the car, "So uh, I know we said we wouldn't let them go here, but maybe it's better here? Like it's away from... it might not be a bad idea, yeah?"

"You're bleeding," he said before noticing what the kids were doing, "No! We're absolutely not doing this!"

Dustin walked up to them, "Steve, I know you're upset but a party member requires assistance. Now, you told Nance you'd keep us safe, so just do that."

The kid handed Steve his bat and Annie her pitchfork. They were really going to do this. A knot of nausea was in her stomach.

A pair of goggles, some gloves, and a bandanna later; Annie was at the back of the group, making sure none of the kids fell behind while Steve took the front. It was simple. Set the place on fire and get out fast. She could do this. If Steve could handle this, so could she.

They were walking through the tunnels, and Annie was already familiar with the vines and whatever it was floating in the air. Dustin stood back and as she tried to get him to move forward, something sprayed at him. As horrific as it was to watch, the kid was back up and with the group.

Another few minutes and they found the hub that they all needed to drench in gasoline. That was also the easy part. She still kept an eye out, though. Those demodogs could be anywhere for all she knew.

She was crouched alongside all of them as Steve threw his lighter to the ground. For a moment, she just stared as it was all enveloped in bright flames. It took Dustin tugging her to realize they needed to go and she trailed behind. Meaning she was right there when Mike fell down.

"It's okay, you're fine, kid," she said, using the pitchfork to cut the vines.

That didn't stop a demodog from running up and growling as the group came back for them. She stood in front of all them, but Dustin moved in front. They all cried out in protest until Steve got them to quiet down. Her gloved hand reached for Steve's for just a moment before she focused on holding her pitchfork.

Thankfully, somehow a candy bar was all they needed to get through. That didn't stop the other demodogs from knowing where to find them. It was a race to get the kids up one by one. The last one up was Dustin who only made it up because she and Steve forced him up. At least the kids made it out.

Deep down, Annie knew that getting out of this was impossible. She was sure Steve knew that too, but they had gone through too much to not fight this last time. Her grip was tight on her pitchfork and her eyes glanced up to him.

"Thanks, for everything," she said as the monsters ran.

What she hadn't prepared for was the stampede to ignore her and Steve. He had to hold onto her so she didn't get thrown into them. The monsters passed and she blinked as hard as she could so she wouldn't cry.

Steve made her go up first and he came out soon after. The car lights started to flash brighter than she thought possible and then they went dark again. Right after that, the hole in the ground closed. All she could do was stand, watching as it all came to an end.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, if you liked this chapter I would love to hear some feedback! It really helps to keep me motivated!


	7. Chapter Six: That Would Be Enough

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the events of the Upside Down, there is nothing left to do aside from attempt to recover. Whether it is done right or not is up for debate, but Annie doesn't have to do it alone.

Steve sat on the edge of the bathtub, ice pack in hand. It was pressed up against his eye. Every few minutes it alternated from the top of his head to his eye. As many times as Annie tried to insist that he go to the hospital, he was against it. That left her insisting on taking care of him after everything. After all, she already had her things at his house, and she wasn’t too keen on going home.

The gate was closed, but that didn't mean she trusted her house. Besides, was it such a bad thing to not want to be alone? Plus, she would have to find Erik somewhere in his house first. Annie didn't know if Steve really wanted to just be by himself or not, but she was sure that if she was alone for too long that the realities of the night would swallow her whole. Everything from the demodogs to Billy to the tunnels left her longing to crawl into a hole and never come back. She didn't even want to think about everything with Billy.

"Okay, so... I don't know how this works so I'm sorry if it stings," Annie said, kneeling down so she could dab a damp washcloth on Steve's face.

He nodded, letting her press the towel to his skin, "What happened?"

"Um... Billy saw the kids through the window and he shoved you down. Right as he was about to beat the shit out of Lucas, you stepped in. You um... you almost had it too," she paused, hesitating when she felt him wince at her touch, "Then he broke a plate over your head and... and it was over from there."

Steve clenched his jaw to keep from moving away from Annie. How he was feeling was beyond her. All she knew was that something got knocked loose in there because he asked the question more than once. She couldn't bring herself to say that, though. For the most part, he was still there. That had to be enough.

There was a hand cupping her cheek and she yanked her head back, "How'd ya get cut up like that?"

"It's nothing... I got him off of you."

That was her explanation of choice. No need to explain trying to fight and getting pinned to the floor. She didn't even want to think about how she couldn't move. How Billy said those things. How there was something against her leg. How she knew what it was but she couldn't bring herself to say it. She wanted to forget the feeling of his mouth on her neck. Though, most importantly, she wasn't going to tell Steve. There was enough going through his head without her adding anything else.

He frowned and cringed as Annie turned to put some peroxide on his face, "I lost Nancy... didn't I?"

"Yeah," she nodded, "You did. Steve, I-"

"She didn' love me before... she wanted Jonathan," he closed his eyes when Annie accidentally got some soap on a cut.

She drew back, "Sorry... um yeah, I guess she did."

"It's 'cause I'm bullshit. She's right. I can't even watch a few fuckin' kids right."

Annie clutched the towel in her hand and she cupped his face with her other hand, "You're not bullshit, Steve. You did everything you could, okay? If it weren't for you, Lucas could be dead. Nancy doesn't know what she wants and the fact that she just ditched you like this is what's really bullshit here. You deserve the world and you can't convince me any different."

There was a long pause between them. For a moment, she thought Steve was going to ask her to leave. He didn't, he just stared at her and she stared right back. Her dark brown eyes looked at his rather confused ones. A part of her swore he looked at her lips, but maybe that was because she looked at his. Maybe she leaned up just a slight bit, but she quickly turned away to grab the ointment on the bathroom counter.

"Are ya gonna tell me how you got that cut?" he asked as she dodged his attempt to touch her face again.

She gave a weak smile, "You don't need to worry about that. I'm just... I'm glad you made it."

Even the thought of kissing Steve was stupid in hindsight. Would he even remember? Did a part of him think she was Nancy? She had no clue, and she probably only wanted to do that because she almost lost him. Had he died, she would have lost her one friend. Though, she didn't lose him. Instead, she was patching him up after that awful fight.

There was nothing Annie wanted more than to walk to Billy's house and stab him to death. Something to make him understand the pain he caused her. The way he laughed at Steve falling and at her being underneath him were sounds she couldn't get out of her head. Right up there with the screeching of those monsters. What would have happened if Max hadn't thought to use the anesthetic?

"Hey, I'm gonna take a shower," Steve said, moving to stand up.

Annie stood up as well, staring up at him, "Absolutely not. You're not standing for that long. You should probably take a bath."

"Alright, fine," he said, nodding for her to go.

She moved to leave the bathroom before turning back, "Um... can I use your phone? I need to call my mom."

"Yeah, it's downstairs in the living room."

Annie left the bathroom that connected to Steve's bedroom and closed the door. His grey bomber jacket was covering most of her body. When they dropped the kids off at the Byers', she stayed in the car. She must have been shaking like a leaf because Steve wouldn't take no for an answer. It smelled like him, meaning it didn't smell like Billy and that was enough.

The sound of running water could be heard from the bathroom as she laid down on his bed. How was she supposed to go to school ever again?

Looking at the clock, it was nearly two in the morning. Oddly enough, she didn't feel tired in the slightest. Maybe that was because the last time she carelessly fell asleep, she woke up to a bunch of slugs crawling all over her.

Would her mom even want to hear from her right now? It was obviously late. Still, if she didn't call her now, there was a chance that she wouldn't be able to do it later.

By the time she made up her mind, the water had stopped running a while ago. She crept out of Steve's room. They agreed to leave every single light on. It gave Steve a massive headache, but neither of them wanted to deal with what could be in the shadows. If only there was something she could do to make Steve feel completely better. There wasn't more she could do, though. Nothing aside from trying to be there for him.

Still, she couldn't help thinking that she was just bothering him. That he probably just wanted to be left alone. After all, she didn't know him very well. Their entire friendship was based on trying to help him with his girlfriend. Now that he and Nancy were no more, she was sure that after all this, Steve wouldn't want anything to do with her.

Which she understood. After all, she was the one calling her mom at two in the morning when the woman was sleeping in a hotel room hours away. That had to be annoying, but her mom was the only person who would have truly missed her had she died.

There were a few rings before the hotel lobby picked up her call and then transferred it to her mom's room. Annie twirled the cord around her index finger as she waited for someone to pick up.

"Hello?" answered a groggy voice.

Annie couldn't help smiling, "Mom, hey."

"Annette? Do you know what time it is?"

"Right... yeah, sorry-"

"Is something wrong, did something happen? Do you need me to come home, I can make that work," there was rustling on the other line.

"No, no... sorry I um- I had a- a bad dream. It was really bad and I just needed to hear your voice. Sorry, Mom."

Annie could hear a long sigh, "Are you sure that's it?"

"Yeah, I just called to let you know I love you," she said, tears pricking her eyes.

"I love you too, Annie. But you're sure that's all?"

A tear fell from her eyes, but she kept her voice clear, "That's it."

"Okay, go get some more sleep. I love you so much, goodnight."

The other end clicked off and Annie set the phone on the receiver. Her hands covered her mouth as she felt more tears coming on. How was she supposed to deal with this? What was she supposed to do?

She bent over, her shoulders sagging as she sobbed. Everything circled her mind. From her dad to the kids at school to the demodogs to Billy right back to those awful monsters and almost losing Steve and the kids. It all repeated itself in her mind. Suddenly there were arms wrapped around her and she couldn't even register that she was screaming until she realized just how much her throat hurt.

"Hey, hey, Annie. It's just me. I'm so sorry, it's just me, I-I'm not gonna hurt you," Steve rambled, quick to let go of her as she struggled to get away.

The way her body shook made her fall on the floor, seated on the carpet as she cried. Steve could only watch as she moved away from him when he tried to touch her again.

Her head was buried in her hands, wishing she could just disappear again. This was probably more than Steve knew what to do with. He probably would want her to just head out. After all, he had been through enough without her screaming and crying.

Except, he never said anything. Eventually she stopped crying and she looked at him. There was just a look of pure concern etched on his face as he crouched down to be at her level.

She was quick to wipe her tears, "Sorry, I um- I didn't know-"

"What did he do?" he asked, "Hargrove did something to you. I might have a concussion, but I'm not stupid. What happened after I passed out?"

Annie shook her head, "Nothing. I got him off of you. That's all you need to-"

"No, enough of that. You're not gonna hurt me by telling me what actually happened. Now what did he do?"

She looked at the carpet as tears started to form again, "I-I um, well, you have to understand, he wouldn't stop punching you after you passed out. I-I thought he was gonna kill you, and- and I took my knife and I had it on his throat. But- well, you see, he's stronger than me and we were fighting for it and he um... he cut me with it."

Her voice cracked and she wiped a few more tears, "I was pinned to the ground, I couldn't move and he was hard and- and pressed against me andIdon'tknowwhathewasgonnado."

"I'm gonna fucking kill him," Steve shook his head, "C'mere."

Annie wrapped her arms around Steve, sobbing into his chest, "I- you can't! He-he'll kill you first!"

"Hey, I'm fine," he said, holding her close, but making sure that if she needed to move away she could.

Annie looked up at Steve, "Have you seen yourself?"

"Okay, that's rude," he said, rubbing circles in her back, "But no one gets to do that shit to you... and I'm sorry I wasn't-"

"Don't do that. It's not your fault and I'd do it all over again if it saved you."

Steve frowned, looking over the cut on her cheek again, "I know, and I also know that I don't know you that well, but we've been through enough that you can come to me with anything."

"Thanks..." she said, unsure of what was left to be say, so she pulled back from him.

He stood up, offering a hand to help her stand that she took, "Come on, let's get you cleaned up."

She simply nodded, pulling Steve's jacket around herself. It was something that didn't smell like Billy. Her clothes smelled like him still. No, she didn't love that the jacket smelled like demodogs or the Upside Down, but it was the better option.

Soon enough, Annie was under the shower head in Steve's bathroom. He was out in the bedroom and he promised he wouldn't leave in case she needed anything. Though, even if she did need something, she doubted that she would ask anything. After everything tonight, he had helped her enough. More importantly, she wasn't about to have him do anything when he was so injured. He should be in a hospital right now, but she knew he probably wouldn't hear it if she tried to push it.

Instead of thinking about that, her focus was scrubbing off everything from that day that she possibly could. Those demodogs, Billy, the tunnels, almost dying, almost watching other people die, everything she could think of. No amount of soap was enough to make her forget or enough to make her feel clean either.

Nevertheless, Annie made sure to go through her long, dark hair with two latherings of shampoo and she scrubbed her skin until some parts were raw. It wasn't until the water started to turn cold that she finally stopped the shower. None of it was enough.

There was steam on the mirror that she wiped away to get a good look at herself. As cliche as it was, Annie couldn't recognize the person in front of her to save her life. Her eyes just looked so dead and haunted. Of all the things that got her, it had to be this one night.

A little bit longer and Annie was back in Steve's room in pajama pants and an over-sized t-shirt. Steve sat on the edge of the bed and patted the spot next to him. She sat there, fidgeting with the hem of her shirt.

"You should be asleep," she said, looking down.

Steve shrugged, pulling his arm away when he moved to put an arm around her, "Didn't know where you'd wanna sleep. You know, if you wanted a guest room or something."

"Mhm... well, I don't wanna be alone for tonight. If you don't mind."

"Not at all, that's fine. I'll just take the floor."

Annie scoffed, "Absolutely not. You've got a concussion on top of getting dumped and almost dying. The least you deserve is to sleep in your own bed."

"Yeah, well- well you're the guest and so you get the bed," he insisted.

She thought a minute before sighing, "Then we should just share the bed."

"Sorry, what?!"

Annie laughed a bit, "I'm not about to let you sleep on the floor and you're not gonna let up either. We may as well just share. Your bed's large enough for both of us to have our own sides. It's not a huge deal."

"Oh, well, when you put it like that, yeah, I guess you're right."

It was settled and they were both soon under the covers. Before this, Annie didn't realize just how exhausted she felt. She was turned so her back was facing Steve, and she hoped he was already asleep. 

Sleep came to her so quickly and before she knew it, there was already sunlight in the room. They never turned off the lights, but Annie was quick to turn over and go back to sleep for a little while longer. Admittedly, she was a bit sore in places, and she couldn't imagine how Steve felt.

Upon officially waking up, Annie was finally able to look around Steve's room. It was something she had been too preoccupied to do the night before. Needless to say, the matching plaid curtains and walls were less than appealing. The bowling pin on his desk stood out to her the most. She sat up to ask Steve, but realized she was the only one in the room.

She headed downstairs, bowling pin in hand, where she could hear someone in the kitchen. Already aware that the Harringtons were rarely home, she automatically assumed it was Steve. He was the person she saw upon reaching the kitchen. He had yet to notice her presence and was humming to himself as he worked on breakfast. It seemed to be pancakes, and she stood by the wall and watched for a little bit.

"Um... care to explain this?" Annie asked.

Steve jumped ten feet in the air, "Jesus Christ, Annie! You can't sneak up on me like that!"

"Sorry, I thought you would've heard me, but seriously, what's with this?" she said, waving the bowling pin.

He shrugged, "What about it?"

"What's it doing in your room? Your room, by the way, is a total wreck! I don't know how you deal with those walls and curtains. This pin doesn't even make sense, like, do you bowl or some shit?"

He looked at her and suddenly had a rather somber look on his face, "Well, the bowling pin was my grandpa's. After he came back from the war... well, he took up bowling and that pin was his most prized possession."

"You're kidding me."

He glared, "I would never kid about that! It's really important, it makes me think I can accomplish anything."

"Oh shit, well, jeez, I'm sorry I feel like such a dick."

Then Steve started laughing, "I got you good! Admit it, book girl!"

"Oh, you suck!" she exclaimed, lightly hitting him with the bowling pin.

It seemed to be an unspoken agreement between both of them to not say anything about what happened the night before. They weren't survivors of awful circumstances, but rather a couple of good friends simply hanging out over the weekend. Neither would bring up the demodogs or tunnels unless the other one did first.

Besides, none of that was important at the moment. They deserved a break from that. If having some pancakes and making some coffee was the first step in processing everything, Annie was fine with that. A part of her was aware that not talking about this was what screwed Steve over with Nancy, but if they both seemed content to not say anything, she figured they would be fine. After all, they were just friends hanging out.

"What do you want in your coffee?" she asked, pouring two cups before going to get some milk and sugar.

Steve shrugged, "I just take it black. You know, it's best that way."

"If you say so," she said, handing him a mug.

As she fixed up her own cup, she watched as Steve went to take a solid drink from the mug. He didn't swallow, but instead rushed to the sink to spit it out. Annie couldn't stop herself from laughing.

"If you didn't like coffee, you could've just said," she laughed.

Steve gave a frustrated sigh, "No, it's... I've never had it before."

"Then you don't wanna have it black," she replied, taking his mug and fixing it with a fair amount of milk and sugar, "Now try."

This time, Steve took a tentative sip before nodding, "You're good at that."

"Thanks," she smiled, "I've always thought it was better that way."

A few hours later and Annie was doing a bit of damage control regarding Steve getting dumped. It only officially happened around twelve hours before, and he really had loved her. She had no problem with hugging him whenever he started crying when they tried watching a movie. It didn't help that he would complain about having a headache either. They could watch movies another time, though.

If only Nancy had some idea of the pain she had caused, Annie wasn't sure that would have even been enough for her. Of course, it was hard to watch Steve go through what he had and not think that he didn't deserve so much better. As douchey as the school tried to make him sound, she didn't see it.

She let out a small sigh, "You know what I think you need?"

"What?" he asked, looking at her with red eyes.

She got up and went to her bag and dug around before pulling out a mix-tape, "Some good, old-fashioned breakup music."

"I thought I told you to bring important stuff with you."

"My mix-tapes are very important."

"You forgot a jacket."

"Would you shut up and let me put this in your boombox? I promise this is gonna be super therapeutic."

He scoffed, "And you know that how?"

"Hey, before you got dumped by Nancy, I've had many failed relationships!"

Annie popped in a tape titled,  **_"just got dumped, send help!"_ ** and pressed play. There was a grin on her face when she heard the opening notes for  _ "Mamma Mia" _ fill Steve's room. He simply looked up from the bed and stared at her.

"Come on, I know you know the words!" she pressed, going to pull him up from the bed.

Steve rolled his eyes, "I don't know ABBA."

"You know their name, come on, you don't have anyone to impress," she said.

That was all it took to get him to at least sing along to the chorus with her. Just like she suspected, he knew the song. They both danced around the room to the remainder of the song before flopping back on his bed, laughing.

It was easier to just dance around and sing in their pajamas much to her cat's chagrin. There wasn't much they could say to each other that would really express how they felt about what they went through. Instead, they just sat around Steve's room, knowing that he probably wasn't in any shape to do much for the next day at the very least. That was fine with the both of them, though. All of this beat being alone by a long shot.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, I really hope you guys are enjoying this. If you've gotten this far, I would love to hear your thoughts!


	8. Chapter Seven: Hands Clean

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the initial shock of the events surrounding Halloween and the days after, Steve and Annie both start to realize they may be wrong about how to cope. Their friendship also manages to strengthen in the process.

Admittedly, Steve could have handled himself alone in the house long enough for Annie to go to school. However, when she pretended to be both her mom and his, he didn't stop her. Not until he was okay enough to drive.

How school would work was a question both of them asked. Steve's bruises were faded enough for Annie to try and cover them up with makeup. That was what she used almost too much of on the cut on her cheek. Sure, she could hide it with her hair, she already did that, but it wasn't enough for her. Nothing was really enough.

Being near Steve wasn't enough to stop her from reliving everything in her head. Besides, she eventually had to go back to her own house. It was safe and she was sure that Steve could use some alone time. Though, she couldn't stand the quiet of her house.

None of that stopped Steve from picking her up on a chilly Wednesday in November. Frost crunched under her boots instead of leaves. It was clear that nothing was going to stop time from passing. She wished it would pause just so she could catch up, but she wasn't sure that would be enough either.

Going back to school gave Annie the same twisted feeling in her gut as her first day. Maybe they found someone else to poke fun at or to joke with. She didn't have anything to defend herself with. Her switchblade was somewhere in the Byers’ house, but she hadn't asked anyone where it went.

"You ready?" Steve asked, looking at her.

Annie took a deep breath and nodded, "It's just school."

They both knew it was more than that. After a few days of hanging out, it became pretty clear when Annie decided to put on a front. Her back would straighten up a little bit too much and she would appear to tense up all over. It wasn't something Steve pointed out, and Annie assumed that he, of all people, would understand.

She could only imagine what seeing Nancy with another guy would be like for him. Though, a part of her wished that a broken heart was all she had to walk into. Seeing Billy was a reality she knew that she would just have to face. However, she tried to avoid it.

Since Steve was feeling better, she knew that she couldn't convince him to stay back. And maybe doing this with a friend would be easier for her. She wiped sweaty palms on her jeans before getting out of Steve's car.

It was going to be okay. That was what she kept telling herself on a loop. Just eight hours, seven if she took out lunch, and then she could go right back home. She could lose herself in a book or maybe try to catch up on some sleep she could never get enough of.

People stopped staring at Steve, and Annie wished that being shorter than him meant that she was safe too. Except it didn't. Nothing changed. There were stares boring into her as she walked to her first class. She didn't bother with her locker. That was something which obviously hadn't changed. Giving other students the satisfaction of walking up to it every day was the last thing she wanted to do.

There was a rumor going on about how Billy slept with her. It wasn't followed nearly as closely as everything with Steve a few days ago. Still, all of that led her to looking forward to lunch.

Sitting in the cafeteria was not an option. The first day back, they both sat in his car. They tried a few more places. By the end of the week, they were sitting in the auditorium. There was something about eating on a stage that calmed Annie a little and Steve was just glad it was empty.

"So what's going on there?" he asked, nodding at her copy of  _ War and Peace _ .

Annie looked up at him, "Well... how do I explain this... there's this Pierre guy, and he kinda tied a bear to someone."

"What?!"

"In his defense, he was drunk?" she offered, laughing a bit.

Steve shook his head, "Didn't realize books like that were so interesting."

"You're kidding!"

"Every time I try the words don't really make sense or I get distracted by something else."

She nodded, "I get it. I mean, I'm sure you had a lot of other stuff going on."

"Not really. Come on, you lived in Seattle  _ and _ New York. That's gotta be way more interesting. No wonder you didn't wanna talk to anyone," he chuckled.

"I didn't avoid everyone because I was trying to be pretentious. I gave up. There's a difference."

"What? How? You... you seemed pretty okay."

Annie sighed, "Well, you should've figured out I'm a fair actress by now. It wasn't like I had a say in whether or not I moved. I had to go with my mom or my dad, and well, my mom was the only decent option."

"Well, you can't say you don't have any friends now," Steve said, nudging her a bit.

Annie smiled a bit, "You've got me there."

"Could you read that part, though? With the bear?" he asked, "It just sounds like you're screwing with me."

She nodded, "Gladly, and I can tell you that I'm not screwing with you."

As Annie read the passage out loud, she couldn't help getting into it. Not wanting any of the details to seem boring, she tried her hardest to make all the characters sound different. Not that she would have needed to do that to keep Steve's attention. He looked at her so intently as she read. Of course, it wasn't anything she noticed since she was too caught up in what she was doing.

Lunch was the only real time Annie and Steve got a break from the school. Though, the only people who really cared about what they did were Tommy, Carol, and Billy. The perfect trio to constantly leave Annie feeling like she was going to vomit. 

Annie had to stop carrying her books around in her hands. That was something she learned when her copy of War and Peace got snatched from her hands. Tommy didn't have the strength to rip apart the hardcover book, but she didn't want to take any chances either.

"So is it true you fucked Hargrove?" Tommy asked, cornering her in the hall when she was a bit slow to get out of the school.

"No, I think that was you," she said, trying to think of a quick getaway.

Steve sauntered up to both of them, "What's going on here?"

"Nothing, just having a chat with your psychobitch slut of a girlfriend," Tommy replied.

Steve nodded, "Right, I think you're done having a chat."

"No, I'm pretty sure I was just getting started," Tommy insisted, starting to get closer to Steve.

Annie was quick to move away from Tommy and grab Steve by the wrist, "You know what? I think we're done here."

She led Steve out of the school, promptly letting go of his jacket. Something told her that wouldn't be the last time they had to deal with something like that. It was the weekend again, though, and Annie was relieved that she hadn't completely fallen apart while at school. Getting through a full week sounded like it was out of the question.

However, that wasn't on either of their minds when they were sitting in Steve's room again that Saturday. She looked through his closet and sighed.

"Is it that bad?" Steve asked, sprawled across the bed.

Annie tossed a shirt to the side, "I just didn't know anyone could own this many polos. How were you so popular again?"

"Hey! It's because I'm good with the ladies, duh," he said, "What're we listening to right now?"

She found yet another polo and turned to face him, " _ West Side Story _ , the most heartbreaking musical I've ever heard in my life."

"I don't get it."

"Well it'd make more sense if we watched it. They're meant to be watched, but I don't have it and Family Video had it rented out already," she tossed aside the eighth polo, "I don’t get why you have so many polos."

He shrugged, "My mom told me they looked good on me and Nancy never minded."

"Well... I don't mind it, just... have you ever thought about what you like?"

"A little? No one really asks me, though."

Annie sat on the edge of the bed, "Do you like having all those polos?"

"Not really... I don't care, though. Same thing with the room," he shook his head, "Do you even know what you like?"

She thought a moment before speaking, "It took a while, but yeah. I don't have anything in my closet that I don't like."

That was a lie. What she wore that night with the demodogs was something she hated now. A part of her wanted to burn it, but she used to love that flannel. But now, it reminded her of everything so much. Mainly what happened with Billy. Shouldn't she have gotten over that by now? She didn't talk to anyone about it after she broke down that one time. A part of her wasn't sure if Steve even remembered.

As helpful as he had been that night and the day after, she knew he wasn't at his best. It was a relief that he was, for the most part, okay in the first place. 

"How do you do that?"

She shrugged, "You try different stuff until you find what you like. And you'll know when you like something, trust me."

They stayed in silence for a little while, just listening as "America" played in the background. By all rights, Annie should have just been at her house. Her mom would be home tomorrow, but until then she didn't want to be alone in her house if she could help it. Though, she tried to stay the night at her own house.

Never mind how it had barely been a week and the only thing keeping her from losing it was that her cat would curl up in the middle of her bed with her. She didn't know how to go about talking about it. Though, if he wasn't going to comment on how she probably wasn't sleeping or eating much, then that was fine by her.

"So... what did happen with your parents, anyway?" he asked, "I mean, I get the cheating part, but my parents are still together and my dad’s not much better."

Annie stayed quiet for a few minutes as she tried to think about how to explain herself, "They tried making it work. We moved across the country so that could happen. My dad got a guy for a TA and everything. Still, they kept fighting and they wouldn't stop, and I was getting sick of it. I'm sure the neighbors were too, and I tried to get their attention. The only way I could do that was by talking about hurling myself off the roof of the apartment building."

"Shit... did you um... were you-"

"I didn't mean it, I was just frustrated," she said, thinking that was true, "But they agreed to go to family counseling. It just brought up all the problems my parents had and taught me that I was way more screwed up than I thought. We only went twice before my parents decided on the divorce."

Steve sat up, "That sounds awful."

"Yeah, it kinda was at the time... but my mom's doing the best she can and I appreciate that," she let out a long sigh.

He shook his head, "You shouldn't have had to do all that just for them to listen, though."

"Tell me about it."

"Hey, I know I'm not perfect, but you can talk to me about this stuff. Not that you have to tell me anything unless you really want to, but I just know that not talking about it ended up hurting Nancy a lot," he looked at his hands.

She nodded, "I know- but did it occur to you that I don't wanna talk about it? It's already bad enough just thinking about everything, talking about it? Forget it."

"Are you sure? I mean, I don't know what you're normally like since we kinda met a couple days before everything went to shit but," he sighed, thinking of the right words, "But you don't seem right."

"And maybe I'm not, but that's not your problem. That's mine. Let me deal with that on my own time. It's a lot easier to just make fun of how preppy you are."

"Hey!" he tossed a pillow at her.

Annie laughed, feeling the pillow hit her side, "What? I'm right!"

Really, talking about anything else was easier. It wasn't that she wanted to make Steve worry about her, but she couldn't help reacting to everything the way she did. Besides, Annie knew that he wasn't reacting the best to it either. Though, there was a lot more than just demodogs that he had to go through. Losing the girl he still seemed to love had to take a lot out of him.

On the outside, it probably looked like she simply stuck around out of pity or for some form of social protection. Maybe there was some truth in that, but she genuinely thought that Steve was fun to hang out with. He was funny and kinder than he gave himself credit for. Obviously there was a part of her that knew if she didn't stick around with at least someone, she would end up being more of a victim to ridicule than she already was.

All of that pissed her off more than she cared to admit. A part of her really did wish Billy Hargrove were dead. The way he would look at her made her want to run to the bathroom and throw up for hours. What if she had actually tried to cut his throat? No, they would be in a bigger mess than they were already. There was no need to add murder to the mix.

She wanted him dead in almost the same way she wanted her dad dead when she found out he was cheating on her mom. It wasn't something she actually wanted to happen. Death was so final yet uncertain. Saying that she wished that she wanted someone to still be alive but never come near her in any way, shape, or form was a bit long-winded and less catchy. That was more accurate to what she wanted.

"I know you don't like it when people touch you," Steve said, changing the subject back.

Annie shrugged, "Is that such a bad thing?"

"No, but... but you're really specific with it. I don't need to know why, I just need to know what you're okay with. We're friends, I need you to at least explain that."

"Um... I mean, I don't know totally, it depends," she paused, "Like, being snuck up on? That's a huge no-go, obviously. I mean, it's not that I hate touch or anything, I just- I prefer to be the one touching someone else. Or if it's, like, one of the kids, that I have a way to get out of it easily. It's mostly with people I'm uncomfortable with. Like you, at first, but it just- it depends, I'm not sure how else to tell you."

He nodded, "That's fine, I just don't wanna end up hurting you on accident or, like, one of the kids or something."

"Well, since you asked me something super personal... do you think you're getting over Nancy at all?" she asked, moving so she was criss-cross on the bed.

Steve frowned, "I guess? Seeing her and Jonathan together sucks a bit less every day. It's only been a week, though. And I'm not dumb, I know she's liked him for a while. I just didn't want to admit it to myself. After what I did last year when I saw them sitting together, I didn't wanna be the asshole jumping to conclusions again. I thought if she didn't love me that she would say it when she was sober. I put in so much effort for her and she didn't even care."

Neither of them brought up how obvious it was that Nancy and Jonathan probably did something when they were off getting some Murray Bauman guy to help them. Annie wasn't going to say anything if Steve wasn't. A part of her thought he knew, but she didn't want to hurt him even more if he hadn't put it together.

"You know she didn't leave you because you were a shitty boyfriend, right?"

"Now that's bullshit."

Annie tossed the pillow in her lap right at Steve's face, "No, you're gonna listen to me. The only one who's bullshit here is Nancy. If she didn't love you, then she should've said so. You were obviously a great boyfriend. You went to her dead best friend's parents' house when you didn't even know them. And you let her go, if you were a shitty boyfriend, you wouldn't have done any of those things."

"That's nice, but I called her a slut and I didn't even really like her much at first."

"If all that bothered her, she could have stayed broken up with you after everything a year ago," she pointed out, "You made up for all that. Not everyone does, and you obviously love her."

They both sat there, not saying anything. Instead, they both just let the music play in the background. Annie knew that she didn't have feelings for Steve. For all the bad luck she had with guys, they were too good of friends for her to mess that up. Because of that, she couldn't let him get over Nancy on his own. And she knew that for as moody as Steve would get at times, he would have told her if he didn't want her around.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I always love hearing feedback from you guys!


	9. Chapter Eight: A Turkey Dance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After a little while, Thanksgiving has finally decided to show up. It causes Annie to have some realizations about everything around her.

Thanksgiving was ordinarily a good enough holiday. There was food and a parade to watch plus a cute dog show afterwards. Annie's parents were never into football, so she never had to put up with watching the sport. However, this year was a little different than other years.

By a little different, that meant it was a huge difference. Initially, she assumed that it would just be her mom and herself sitting in front of the television and watching whatever was on.

Now, Annie wasn't against her mom dating someone else, but introducing the guy at Thanksgiving just felt a little bit weird to her. It could have been worse, though. The guy could have been a complete dick and Annie would have purposely made the day a living hell for everyone.

Fortunately, Scott Clarke was a nice guy. There wasn't any way around it. A part of Annie wanted to just hate him, but it was easy to like the middle school science teacher. How he and her mom met was beyond her, but her mom seemed pretty happy about it.

Steve told her to just give him a call if things got unbearable. His parents would be around, but he swore he would make up an excuse to help her out. What were friends for if not saving what was originally a well-liked holiday?

Everything was pretty nice that morning. Annie was working on baking a pumpkin pie and was making some mashed sweet potatoes. That was about the extent of her cooking ability. The pie was easy, she just had to pour a few cans of mix into the premade crust and make sure it didn't burn. The sweet potatoes were just the anomaly of being able to cook one thing decently enough.

"I've heard a lot about you from your mom," Scott said.

Annie nodded as she poured in the pie filling, "Yeah, I've heard a bit about you from some kids I know."

"Which kids?"

"Um... I think they're your AV kids? Mike, Dustin, Lucas, Will, and I think Max is in there, right?"

"Yes, you'd be correct," he grinned, "They're a bright group. How do you know them?"

"Um..." she paused, realizing she couldn't explain the real circumstances, "I helped babysit them a couple of times."

It was obvious that Scott was trying and Annie had to give him some credit. From how the kids talked about him, he was a smart and nice guy. While she wasn't ordinarily inclined to trust the judgement of a bunch of eighth graders, she trusted those kids.

While this wasn't the Thanksgiving Annie had counted on, it wasn't warranting a call to Steve. However, when the doorbell rang, a few alarms automatically went off in Annie's brain.

She went over to open the door and saw none other than Carter Hardwick. Already, she could feel her stomach twisting in knots. As nice of a guy as Scott was, she doubted that he dad would take well to him. Hypocritical yes, but what was a shitty parent if not just that?

"Anne, aren't you happy to see me?" he asked.

Annie forced a smile, "Uh yeah! Just um- just a bit unexpected."

"Well, I wrote."

Maybe she shouldn't have burned those letters after all.

Begrudgingly, she let her dad into the house. What other choice did she have? If her mom wanted to force him out, she wouldn't stop her. However, Annie was all too aware that she had no way of telling anyone what to do in this situation.

"And who's this?" her dad asked, nodding at Scott.

"Mom's new boyfriend," she said, her brain simply short-circuiting.

How couldn’t that have happened? The way her dad stared at the other man made Annie want to crawl into a hole. Thankfully, her mom came out into the living room. There was no hiding the look of disdain on her face. It was even more obvious when her mom asked him to talk with her for a moment.

He shrugged, "I'm sure whatever you have to say to me can be heard by our daughter and whatever asshole you've got over here."

"I'm speaking to you alone," her mom insisted.

That left the living room with only Scott and Annie. They both decided to just watch the dog show going on in front of them. Erik hopped onto the arm of the couch and Annie busied herself with petting him.

"So what's that little guy's name?" he asked.

"Oh, this is Erik. He's the family cat, but he likes me the most. Probably because I'm the most relaxed one in the house, I guess."

He nodded, "Poor, poor Erik."

"Wait... you've read Phantom?"

"Well, of course. It has some of the most amazing scientific ideas for the time!"

She thought a moment before nodding, "Yeah, I guess you're right."

While Annie wasn't sure what to think of her mom dating someone, she was at least glad this guy was nicer than her dad. The contrast was obvious when her parents both walked out.

"Anne, you'll be happy to know your good-ole dad's gonna be here for the day," her dad said as she dodged him ruffling her hair.

"You're not my dad," she said plainly before her eyes widened a bit.

That wasn't something she counted on coming out of her mouth, but she wasn't about to take it back. Technically, she was right. Neither of her parents were biological. Still, they took care of her like they were. Except, with all the things her dad had said and done in the past, she knew she could hold that lack of biology against him as long as she wanted.

"Go to your room!" he snapped.

Annie let out a laugh, "Are you serious?! You don't even live here! If you actually wanted to be a good dad you would... you- well you would pay the damn child support once in a while! You only have to make thirteen of them!"

"Annette!" her mom said, "I think you could use a moment to cool off."

That was the nicest way her mom could tell her to go to her room. Maybe she hit a nerve or two, but Annie knew she hadn't said anything that wasn't already true. There wasn't any use in arguing, though. Not when she almost wanted out of the situation. She picked up her cat and took him to her room with her.

This was the exact sort of thing she was supposed to call Steve over. So she took the phone in her room and dialed his number. As it turned out, Steve did have a phone in his room. One which they had both completely neglected that night a few weeks ago. A night she wasn't over by any means. She hadn't told her mom about any of it, and she knew that she probably would never be able to explain it. It still stuck around in her head. The inter-dimensional and the real things that happened just wouldn't leave.

She let out a sigh as she heard the phone ringing and she twisted the phone cord around her finger.

"Hello?"

"Steve?"

"It's not even noon yet," he said, almost laughing, "That bad already?"

Annie chewed on her lip, "My dad made a surprise visit... I kinda told him he's not my dad and to pay the child support for once."

"Oh shit..." he sighed, "I'd try to come and get you but um- my parents sprung a surprise trip to my aunt's on me."

"That- that's fine, I get it. You gotta see your family."

"If it's any consolation, I'll wish I'm not there. I'd really prefer to hang out with you."

She smiled a bit, "That's nice... I'd rather hang out with you too. Of course, I'd rather hang out with a cockroach than be stuck here."

"Well, if I make it back early enough, maybe I can make something work," he suggested.

"I'd like that a lot."

There was shouting in the background of Steve's end, "Uh I gotta go. Good luck, though."

"Thanks um- you too."

Then the phone clicked off and Annie set her own on the receiver. Admittedly, she almost counted on hanging out with Steve. Aside from the kids, there really wasn't anyone else she spent a lot of time with.

The thought of him trying to come over later did make her feel special. Not that she was about to say so. It was normal, they sort of just had each other. She didn't have any friends to begin with and she knew Steve would sooner die than third wheel his ex all the time.

Aside from sort of being social outcasts and dealing with the Upside Down together, what did they have in common in the first place? Maybe they had a similar sense of humor and similar music tastes, but almost anyone could have those things in common. They were just friends and Annie knew that didn't mean they had to do anything more than that.

Either way, Annie knew that she wasn't going to bother with leaving her room until someone told her to. Continuing on with her reading of  _ War and Peace _ was fine with her. Contrary to her dad's opinions, she thought it was an interesting book.

A part of her was almost too invested in some of the drama of it all. What with Natasha now being tempted by Anatole as Sonya tried to be a good and loyal cousin as well as a friend. It had her reading the pages as quickly as she could. Though, a huge factor in getting through the book as quickly as she was had to be waking up in the middle of the night.

The nightmares didn't happen every night, but it wouldn't have made much of a difference either way. It was too much for her to deal with. While Steve wanted her to talk about it with him, she still didn't say much about it.

"Annie?" her mom knocked at her door.

She marked her book, "What's up?"

The door opened as her mom stepped inside, "You know, I think we still need a couple of things from the grocery store."

"Wait," she looked over the list being handed to her, "I thought we had-"

Her mom cut her off, "We're gonna run out soon. Just take your time, alright? There's no rush."

"Oh, okay."

This happened often enough when they lived in New York. If tensions got really high, her mom would send her out somewhere to do something. That didn't mean she missed out on all the yelling and arguing, though.

Still, it was enough for Annie to take the hint and grab her red, fleece-lined jacket off a hanger and left the house without saying anything. She was almost positive they didn't need any of this. They had more than enough butter and Annie could barely stand Stove Top stuffing in the first place.

She walked rather aimlessly, though she was headed toward the town. If she were too aimless, she would have ended up in the woods. As bright as the day seemed, she still didn't trust herself to go there alone.

Besides, she still hadn't found her switchblade since trying to fight Billy. A part of her thought it was possible he had it. Though, it was just as likely that it was in some obscure place of the Byers' house. She didn't want to go back there any time soon. It wasn't that she had anything against the family, but the thought of going back into the house or stepping into the living room? That was out of the question.

A part of her wished she had some way to actually make Billy pay for everything he did. The problem was that there wasn't any way to do that without giving away everything else. Not that she could think of, anyway. And who knows, maybe she didn't interpret everything properly. Maybe he hadn't done anything.

Her hands clenched inside her jacket pockets as she continued walking. A part of her wanted to tell her mom at the very least. The closest that got was when her mom saw the scar that the cut she got on her face left behind. She blamed it on getting into a bit of an altercation with Erik.

After walking for some time, Annie found her way to a small park. Someone was sitting on the swings. She could see the red hair from pretty far off, but she was unsure of who it was. Though, the closer she got, the more certain she was.

"Max? What're you doing out here?" she asked, sitting on the other swing.

Max looked over to her, "Um... just hanging out."

"None of the guys are available?" she asked.

Max shook her head, "It's Thanksgiving, everyone's with their families."

"Yeah? Well, then what're you doing out here? It's a bit chilly."

"Um..." Max let out a sigh, "You know how the whole divorced kid thing goes. It's my first Thanksgiving without my dad around and Neil and Billy are... um... they're being themselves."

Annie frowned, "They're not hurting you are they? Because if they are I-"

"No, not like that. After I almost hit Billy's nuts with that bat he's been a bit better. It still um- it scares me sometimes, though.

She nodded, "I guess that makes sense. I wish I could look forward to my dad showing up out of nowhere today, but that guy's a dick."

"Oh, was it just gonna be you and your mom?"

"And your science teacher."

"Mr. Clarke?!" Max exclaimed, laughing, "You're kidding!"

She laughed along with Max, "I'm not- I mean, having my mom date some guy like this is weird, but- but I guess things could be a lot worse, you know? Well, before my dad showed up and managed to make it awkward for everyone."

"Oh, that sucks. Sorry, I just don't know what else would help you."

Annie shook her head, "That's alright. You're, like, thirteen? You don't need to worry about helping me."

The both of them stuck around and talked to each other for a while. They managed to avoid actually talking about the awful things Billy had done. Likely because neither of them were prepared for a conversation like that. At the very least, Annie knew that just thinking about talking about that with anyone was enough to make her nauseous.

Eventually, it was for the best that Max went home, so Annie walked her back before turning around and heading back to her own house. She would have to face everything there eventually. But maybe her dad decided to buzz off by that point.

There was no such luck, though. As awkward as it was for her, she gave Scott props for not finding an excuse to get out of the house until the meal was over. If she were him, she would have faked a family emergency in a heartbeat. Though, it was possible that he was just a better person than she was. Lots of people were.

"So, Anne, I've heard you're reading  _ War and Peace _ ," her dad said as they all sat around eating pie.

Annie nodded, "Yep."

"I don't understand why you would bother. I've already told you all the reasons it's a waste of time."

Annie set down her fork before looking over at him, "Maybe I started to realize you compulsively lie about everything. Oh, or maybe I realized people have different tastes from you. Hm, maybe it's the fact that I couldn't give a shit about your opinion of me after everything you've done."

"Language, young lady! Elsa, is this really what you're letting our daughter get away with?"

"I'm not your kid! If I were, you wouldn't send me a ten page letter about how I-"

"Cut it out! Both of you," her mom snapped, "Look, I'm not about to kick my own daughter out of my house, but Carter? I've done nothing but try to make this day decent and, frankly, I'm tired of that. I need you to leave."

Annie focused on her pie as her mom and dad headed out of the kitchen. It beat getting told to quiet down or to stop rambling. Although, it was clear the enjoyment of silence wasn't mutual.

"This pie is great," Scott told her.

She forced a smile, "Thanks... my mom ended up doing most of the work this year, though."

"You know, I hope you don't think I'm intruding on anything. I know this wasn't the best time to try and introduce myself."

"Look, I'm gonna be honest with you. Having my mom date someone is super weird, but I don't hate you. That being said, if you even so much as think about hurting my mom, I'll find a way to make your life a living hell."

Eventually, Annie was able to go back to her room for reasons other than getting into it with her dad. It was nearly midnight and she was focused on the book in front of her as she sat in her bed. There wasn't any school the next day, so she didn't worry about what time she went to bed.

Her distracted state didn't last long when she heard something knock on the window. When she looked out she only saw a shadowy figure outside and her eyes widened. Though, looking closer, it was obviously just Steve.

She opened the door, though she did so a bit sheepishly. How could she have been so easily scared by her closest friend? Steve slid in quietly, though there was a bit of tumbling in since her bed was right under her window. If he got his shoes on her light grey comforter, she would have probably screamed.

He grinned, "Told ya I'd come over."

"Steve, I- I wish you'd told me first," she said.

His smile faded a bit, "I can leave if-"

"No, sorry, just," she sighed, "I don't know, everything just really sucks right now."

There was a long pause before Annie let herself say what happened that day. She wished today could have been normal. That every day could be normal. If that meant her life was boring then so be it. Maybe all the boring people had it right.

"That's really shitty," Steve said, looking at her.

"Yeah."

"Hey, maybe it'll get better."

"Maybe."

A few more minutes and Steve was doing everything he could to get Annie to laugh. It took a solid half hour to get a real laugh out of her, but he did it. After getting her a bit more distracted, they ended up talking about everything except the things they should have probably talked about.

Instead, it meant both of them staying up until the clock in Annie's room read that it was nearly three in the morning. It was around that point that Steve passed out in the chair next to her desk and Annie was only partially on the bed with her head and torso laid out on the carpet and her legs on the mattress.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, I'm gonna be honest I'm starting to lose motivation on this fic. Fortunately I have more written out, but between moving and classes starting I don't know how much that'll help. Feedback definitely helps keep me motivated so if you have anything to say, please let me know!


	10. Chapter Nine: Here Comes The Rain Again

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Exactly one month after the events of the Upside Down, Annie is trying to pick up the pieces. Meanwhile, Steve is worried about what will happen after he eventually graduates high school.

One month. It had been almost exactly a month since everything had truly been swept out from underneath Annie and any perception she had of reality as she knew it. Something that she thought was accomplished by moving to New York and her parents then divorcing. Things couldn't have possibly gotten more messed up after that. How naive she had been.

Lunchtime was simultaneously the best and worst part of every day. On one end, it meant there was only half a day left and she could hang out with Steve for a while. However, she hated eating and she hated finding her way to the auditorium. It was always a matter of how quickly she could pick the lock and get in. Seeing that Steve was cornered by Billy just a few yards away made her pause.

She could go over and stop it. She should go over and stop it. Except, she couldn't go over and stop it. Not after last time. Wasn't a month ago enough to tell her she couldn't possibly do anything to help? Things would only be worse.

So instead of doing anything, she picked the lock to the auditorium and let herself in, closing and locking the door behind her. Once Steve knocked, she opened it, but she didn't want anyone following her in. That was the whole point of this place. It was the only safe place in the whole school.

It was even safer when she lit up the whole space. Staring into the shadows and seeing the things she thought she would only see in her nightmares became all too common. Shouldn't she have been over this by now?

"I got my last college letter," Steve said as he ate, "Well, community college to be exact."

Annie looked up from her book, "Oh, really?"

"Yeah, I don't know if I'll go there. I've got a few options."

"Oh, um, that's really good!"

Any positive tone just felt too forced for Annie's taste, but Steve never seemed to notice that. It wasn't that she wasn't happy for Steve. He was getting out, that was good. Except, what did that mean for her?

Deep down, Annie knew that was the most selfish thought she could have. Steve wanted to leave, it was so obvious. Everyone wanted to get out, but so few did and she really thought he had a chance. Getting away from everything that happened sounded like a dream come true.

The problem was that she still had another year. It was another year with Billy Hargrove and whoever he ended up befriending once Tommy graduated. Who was she supposed to talk to? Even after being at the school for over a month, she had yet to find any group of people she truly wanted to be around.

Sure, the kids would be freshmen next year, but did she really want to sit around them every day? She had to put on some kind of act for them so they didn't worry about her. Still, it seemed that Steve was better at doing that with them.

She didn't even fully realize what she was crying at as she got to the epilogue of  _ War and Peace _ . The characters she cared about the most seemed to make it to the end. Yet she didn't even realize what she was doing until the large book was thrown across the stage.

Steve jumped, "Are you okay?"

"Um... yeah, Tolstoy's just a shit writer," she pursed her lips.

He shook his head, "What happened?"

"Sonya... she was my favorite, you know? And you know what happens to her?! Sh-she... she ends up all alone! Every engagement she had fell through an-and she's living with everyone, but everyone hates her! They say nothing's wrong with her but they just hate her so much and-" she choked out a sob and buried her face in her hands.

Steve's eyes widened and he quickly moved next to her and attempted to hug her, but she was quick to move away before he could, "Hey, maybe if you ate something-"

"I-I'm not hungry."

He huffed, "That's bullshit. I've barely seen you eat since I've known you."

"Just because you haven't seen me eat doesn't mean I'm starving myself," she snapped, looking up at him.

"You think I don't notice?" his brows furrowed, "Annie, you put on mascara in my car when I drive you to school. You wouldn't do that if you got up early enough, so I know you're not eating breakfast. I haven't seen you eat lunch in, like, a week and I don't know about dinner, but I'm sure when your mom's not home you try to get away with not eating anything. I'm not an idiot-"

"I never said that and you know it. It's not your job to fucking babysit me. I'm not one of the kids, and it's not like you're gonna be around in a few months anyways so don't even bother acting like you care," she said, getting up to pick up her book and then to leave.

Steve could only sit there as the door closed, and Annie preferred it that way. If she wanted him to follow her, she would have said something different. Maybe there was a part of her that wanted him to follow her. Hell, a part of her wanted him to hold her and tell her that he would visit even if it was a lie. Just something to keep her from feeling like everything was crashing down all over again.

Even in their one shared class, Annie didn't bother looking in his direction. Mainly because it was embarrassing to think that she cracked like that. Though, she was sure he had enough of her by that point. If he noticed all those issues with her, then he probably didn't want anything to do with her.

That idea in mind, she stayed in the girl's bathroom for what had to be another half hour. By then, she was sure that Steve would get the hint she wasn't coming and he would just go on his own way. Never mind the inch of snow on the ground or how she only had her black vans to help her walk through it all. She would get over it. Obviously this would be the norm once Steve left so she may as well try and get used to it.

However, she didn't expect that anyone would still be lingering that long after. Trying to sneak around Billy right in front of the school was impossible.

"Need a ride?" Billy asked, putting an arm around her.

The stench of cigarettes made her want to scream, but she couldn't say anything. It felt like she was just watching it all happen to her. She wanted to push or do something.

All she could think of was to run, so that was what she did. Annie ran so hard that her lungs burned. Except, she didn't get too far because of how slick the sidewalk was and she landed on the ground, smacking her side against the concrete.

Annie tugged her sweatshirt around herself even as she felt the ice cold snow digging through most of the fabric. The sound of a car pulling up was lost on her.

Steve was in front of her and she wasn't sure what part of that shocked her the most. That he stayed the whole time or that he was trying to help her up. At least nothing physical had been broken.

"Are you gonna say anything?" he asked as he drove.

Annie crossed her arms, "I can take care of myself, you know."

"Right, you did such a good job of that when you were eating shit on the ice," he said, "Look, Anne-"

"Don't fucking call me that!"

His grip on the steering wheel tensed, "Can you please not yell right now? I get it, you're really pissed off or whatever, but it's really icy out and I need to focus."

Annie simply stayed silent after that, not even commenting on how the radio was going haywire. When he pulled up to her house, she just got out and went inside without another word. She knew it was wrong, but she couldn't bring herself to apologize when she knew she was right about having to get used to not having him around.

The only consolation of the day was that Erik curled up in her lap as she finished the last part of the book she had been working through for the last month. If only she could move on from everything that happened the same way she could close a book and put it back on a shelf.

It was the phone ringing that snapped her from those thoughts, and she rushed to pick it up. Her mom said that Scott was coming over for dinner since Thanksgiving had gone less than smoothly.

"Hi, who's this?"

"Anne, I'm looking for your mom," her dad said.

"She's not home right now. Not that I'd tell her you called."

"You know, if she isn't looking after you right, I can take care of-"

"Fat chance. Like I'd want you taking care of me," she said, clenching the phone in her hands.

He sighed, "I'm just saying, the custody battle isn't entirely over."

"Why would you wanna take care of me when you won't even pay child support?! What's the point in having you just torture me for the next ten months when I'd just be miserable the whole time!" 

A surge of pain went through her hand that made her drop the phone. The phone was completely fried and her hand was a little bit burned. She simply stared for a few moments before going to take care of it in the bathroom.

That was when she saw a bit of blood coming from her nose. It contrasted with her light brown skin and she was quick to wipe it with a piece of toilet paper. She then focused on bandaging up her skin. However, a question of what happened was still in the back of her mind.

Had she done that?

The kids always talked about how Eleven's nose bled when she used her powers. Annie didn't get nosebleeds often. Before right then, the last time she got a nosebleed had been after she woke up with all those things crawling on her.

It was a weird and unrealistic theory, though. Two nosebleeds didn't mean anything. Her paranoia was probably through the roof. The odds of her simply finding parallels that weren't there was more likely than anything else. Besides, why would she have powers now?

There wasn't anything super different about her. Sure, her birthday was just over a month ago and she was seeing the Upside Down, but that had more to deal with being near the lab. At least, that was the feeling she and Steve decided to go with. The lights would flicker on and off every time, though.

As much as she didn't buy it at first, none of that stopped Annie from spending a good amount of time on the lamp in her room. She brought a box of tissues and concentrated as much as she could on the light bulb.

"Okay, this is really stupid, I know it's stupid," she said, glancing over at Erik who simply continued his nap in the middle of her bed.

Still, she continued to stare at the light in front of her. Something had to happen. After all, it was clearly possible to some degree. She didn't know her biological parents, maybe they were like that or they were part of something. It was worth trying and the only one watching her fail was her sleeping cat. Steve wasn't going to sneak up on her. Not after she completely screwed that friendship up.

"Come on, you're making me look like a dumbass," she glared at the light.

It had been a month and she wasn't over anything that happened. The least that experience could have left her with was some form of powers. Maybe that could keep her safe from all those shadows at night. She deserved something after all that she lost. Everyone had someone else. And sure, she had Steve at the time but she knew she messed that up beyond repair. Maybe it was for the best. When had she ever had something go right with a guy?

The light sparked a bright, light blue and she almost screamed from how suddenly it lit up. Annie stared at it with such intensity. The light continued to beam brightly and stayed that same distinctive blue. It was beautiful. Was this really the only thing she could do, though? 

All that trauma and for what? All those nightmares and flashbacks out of nowhere and all she got was the ability to turn on some lights. There was also the chance to traumatically flip-flop dimensions. She couldn't forget blowing up the phone either.

With all of those thoughts swimming in her head, the light shattered. Glass clattered all over her desk.

"Shit."

At dinner that night, Annie sat with her mom and Scott over some soup that was quickly heated up at the last possible second. Still, it tasted just fine and Annie made sure that her mom knew that. Well, after she explained that the phone freaked out on her.

"So, Scott... I was watching  _ Carrie _ the other night and I was wondering, like... could someone be able to have those types of powers but with electricity in real life?" she asked, some of her hair falling in her face.

Scott took a spoonful of soup as he thought, "Interesting... I believe you're asking about electrokinesis. Everyone has an electric current inside themselves, being able to control that would be a psionic ability that has yet to be proven by science. Though, we're making new discoveries all the time. It's always in the realm of possibility."

"Um... and what do you think they could do?"

"I suppose someone with that power could control everything with an electrical impulse. Lights, electronics... even other people. That would have to take a lot of power, though," he said before shrugging, "No one really knows, but there is always research to be done."

For a moment, Annie couldn't help thinking about Billy and all the other people at school who did something to make her life hell in the last month. If she tried hard enough, she could really do some damage.

Would that be enough, though? She needed to show someone and figure out what to do. The only person who could come to her mind was Steve. This was huge, surely a sudden onset of psionic abilities was enough to completely discard the things she said. If there was anyone she trusted with something so important, it was him.

After dinner, she thought through what she was going to say. Once she had something in mind, she grabbed her jacket and snuck out through her window. It was freezing outside, but she didn't notice as she hurried on her walk.

There was no reason to fear the shadows if she could just zap something away. Sure, she still turned at every slight noise. It was the first time she walked to Steve's this late at night. She didn't take too long to get to his house. The issue at play was figuring out how to get up to Steve's room.

It took a bit of walking around the house, but she did manage to scale the house, knowing where Steve's room was. The room was right above the pool that was covered and most likely drained. She could see the window light was on.

There was never a worry that Steve would be asleep. He was like her in that way, neither of them slept a whole lot. Probably for the exact same reasons, but she never asked.

The only problem with his window was that there wasn't any roofing below it. She mentally prepared herself to jump when she saw a breath in the dark air. With the way the wind blew, the smell of cigarette smoke hit her face and her heart dropped.

She could only cry out when she slipped on the slick roof and started to fall forward. A scream caught in her throat and wouldn't leave, but she felt something grab at her arm.

"Annie?!" Steve whisper-yelled, "What're you doing here?"

She stared up at him, "I- um... a little help?"

"Thought you could help yourself or whatever," he said as he dropped his cigarette out the window and helped her up into his room.

Getting inside Steve's room made it obvious that talking about electrokinesis to start things off wasn't going to cut it. She wasn't blind and could easily see the red rims around his brown eyes.

Annie chewed on her lip, "What's wrong?"

Steve couldn't bring himself to say anything and instead handed Annie a letter from his desk. She took it, reading over its contents. It seemed that Steve got waitlisted at the community college for one reason or another. 

"I don't get it... I mean, sure that sucks, but you just said that you got into a few places. What's wrong?" she asked, setting down the letter.

He laughed bitterly, "Don't you see? I lied about that. This was my last option, and I couldn't even get into fucking community college. Looks like I am gonna be around in a few months."

There was a long pause as Annie processed his words. Everything about her abilities completely went out of her mind. Of course she wanted Steve around for more than a few more months, but that didn't mean she wanted him to be stuck in Hawkins.

"Are you gonna say anything?" he asked, trying to look at her as though that could give him half a clue as to what she was about to say.

She looked up at him, "I'm sorry, like, really sorry. I shouldn't have said the things I did today and I know I shouldn't have freaked out on you. Um... I know what I said was really shitty, and- and I know that because I was trying to push you away."

"An-and I wish I could say that if I knew what was going on with all this college stuff that I wouldn't have said those things, but it really doesn't matter because I said them anyway and I'm so, so sorry. You don't need to go through all this alone," she said, doing everything she could to keep herself from crying.

Steve sighed, "You don't need to apologize, I already don't have a future. You probably want a friend who isn't a screw up and an idiot and-"

"Steve! Don't you dare talk about my best friend like that ever again," she said, her voice cracking as she hugged him, "You're so smart. I mean, come on, you see right through whatever act I've got going on."

He hugged her back, "Right, because tearing apart your brain is a good way to make money.... that's nice but I'm still a failure."

"No, absolutely not," she frowned, "Maybe things don't look great right now, but you know what?"

"Hm?"

"Everyone thought  _ Cats _ was gonna suck, and it ended up so critically acclaimed and has more great songs than it had any right to have."

Steve blinked, "You're comparing me to  _ Cats _ ?  _ Cats _ the musical?"

"Um... yep, I am," she gave a hesitant smile when she looked up at him.

He couldn't stop himself from laughing and he looked down at her with a look she could have sworn he never gave her before. One of his hands went to brush some of her hair out of her face. A finger traced her scar and for once, for the first time, she didn't flinch or pull away. Neither of them said anything, but she could have sworn Steve was leaning down and she knew that she was about to tip toe up to his height.

There was a knock at the door and suddenly they were both looking at each other with wide eyes. Steve nodded to his bed and Annie immediately got under the bed. She had been so used to his parents not being there that she forgot they would even be around.

Her heart was pumping through her ears and she shut her eyes tightly. Why couldn't she have had the power to turn invisible? It would make life so much easier. Why did it have to be a month? Why couldn't she be over it?

"Annie?" Steve whispered, looking under his bed and helping her up so she could sit on his bed next to him, "Hey, what's with your hand?"

She gave a small shrug, "The phone broke while I was talking to my dad."

"Oh..." he looked over the bandage, "Why'd you come tonight?"

"Guilt? I don't know, I um- I guess I needed to make sure you didn't hate me or anything."

He shook his head, "I don't hate you. Did you hurt me? Yeah, of course you did, but I couldn't hate you. I know it's been exactly a month, and you've gotta be really stressed."

"You knew?"

"Yeah, I didn't think you'd wanna talk about it," he ran a hand through his hair, "And I never really knew you before everything went to hell, so I don't know what's normal for you, but I don’t think this is it."

She stared down at her lap, hair falling in her face, "It's not normal, I don't think it is, anyway. I mean, like, I'm a girl and I've been stupid and I've done stupid stuff and been talked into doing stupid things with people, you know?"

"Right..." he nodded for her to continue.

Annie sighed, "I've felt like I wanted to sink into the floor before, but Billy and those demodogs and my parents all at once? I-I just wanna disappear or to control something or destroy or just- just something that lets me actually feel."

"Anne-"

She winced, "Stop. I know it's just a dumb nickname, but that's what my dad's always called me and- and he did nothing but make me feel like garbage in a ten page letter. That part’s not important, but I can't for the life of me distinguish the two things."

"Okay, okay, I won't call you that. I promise," he reached over to her hands, "But I can't stress how much I don't want you to disappear on me. So I need you to tell me you didn't mess up your hand on purpose."

She nodded, "I didn't, the phone went haywire. My mom's buying a new one tomorrow."

The pair stayed up talking about everything from a month ago. Including how Annie was going to go to Barb's funeral. No, she didn't know the girl, but Annie knew that could have been her. Maybe the fact that Steve didn't deserve to be at that funeral on his own was also why she planned on going.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, it's been great getting some feedback and that has given me some motivation to continue this story! I hope you all enjoyed because I've been really excited to put up this chapter.


	11. Chapter Ten: Head Over Feet

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It is time for the Snow Ball, so Steve and Annie attempt to give Dustin some advice. Though, the night ends up being a bit more eventful than that.

A knock on the bathroom door almost caused Annie to mess up her mascara. Something she was already close to doing from how shaky her hands were for whatever reason.

"Hey, Steve's outside," her mom said through the door.

Annie's eyes widened, "Shit!"

There wasn't time for her to do anything about the scar on her face. She only had time to throw on some flowery perfume before rushing out of the bathroom. The perfume kept her from smelling the demodogs and cigarette smoke and alcohol at the worst times. It didn't smell too bad either.

"You're dressed up," her mom said, raising her eyebrows.

Annie rolled her eyes, "I'm wearing a sweater. We're just dropping off Dustin at his school dance thing."

"You've got perfume on too," her mom replied, "I know you like that guy, and I'm sure with all the time you've been spending around each other, he likes you too."

"Mom! I don't like him that way, we're just friends. And even if I did like him, he's not over his ex."

That was what she kept telling herself, at least. It was better to say that and not get her hopes up. The last thing she wanted to do was have expectations all over a moment she thought happened.

Had she thought that Steve was going to kiss her that night she snuck up to his room? It was in her train of thought, and ever since it didn't happen she realized that she wished it had. They were friends, though, and she didn't want to mess that up. He was a better friend than just about anyone she knew before him.

So that was what she kept in mind when she got into the passenger seat of Steve's BMW. Having a friend was better than having someone who just wanted to get in her pants. Except, wasn't it possible for her to really be with Steve without him trying to hurt her? Deep down, she knew that was true, but she needed any excuse in the world to not think about it.

Steve grinned, "You ready?"

"Yeah, but only because I know I'll give better advice than you."

"He's still gonna make you take the backseat."

Neither of them were surprised when Dustin made Annie go into the back seat of the car. Once again, she was left sitting in the middle seat so she could properly hear everything Steve and Dustin talked about. "Love Is A Battlefield" blasted on Steve's radio just like it had been for the last month.

All three of them sang along, but Annie and Dustin were the ones who got into it the most since Steve still had to drive. Though, she was sure that a part of Dustin had to be nervous. She didn't think that she had ever seen him with his hair done like that. The kid almost looked like a little Steve. Of course, she didn't say that right then, but it still made her smile nonetheless.

As the song ended, Steve pulled into the parking lot of the middle school. He reached over to turn the volume down so the radio was muted. It was time to hype up this child and send him off to this dance.

While Annie felt like she ended up taking Max under her wing more than Dustin, he managed to make her feel like she had a younger brother. Something she never had even when she had multiple friends. Besides, it wasn't like she was about to have a chance to join some clique at school when she was still being ostracized. It still made her wonder what she would do when Steve graduated. Whether he was in town or not, he couldn't still go to school with her.

She tried not to think about Steve graduating and getting a job. Mainly because she doubted he would want to spend time around a high school girl when he could have a chance to hang out with actual adults. Not that she would vocalize that point.

"Here we are," Steve murmured as he parked, "Now you're gonna go in there and?"

Dustin looked between both of them, "Find out what we have in common and then not care about it!"

"Um..." Annie bit back a laugh, "You know what? Yeah, okay."

Steve shook his head a bit, "You're gonna go in there, you look like a million bucks-"

"Any girl would be an idiot not to dance with you," she added.

Steve nodded, "You're gonna knock 'em dead."

"I'll be like a lion!" Dustin agreed before doing his odd purr.

Annie burst out laughing as Steve stared at Dustin, "Uh... maybe um... maybe don't do that."

With that, Dustin got out of the car and walked to the doors of the school. Annie couldn't help feeling proud, knowing that Dustin would have a great time. Once he was in the school, she climbed up over the center console and into the passenger seat.

What Annie didn't notice was Steve noticing Nancy and then staring at her while she situated herself. She saw Nancy through the door and figured he was watching her. It hadn't been all that long since they broke up. That didn't mean she couldn't hang out with Steve, though.

"How do you feel about milkshakes?" Steve asked as he started to drive off.

Annie nodded, "I feel pretty good about that. Only if we get fries with them too to dip them in."

"Wait... what the hell?"

"I swear it's really good! You gotta try it, okay? If you don't like it, I won't make you deal with it ever again," she insisted, "C'mon, for your best friend in the whole world?"

Steve side-eyed her before laughing, "Okay, okay fine. But you're only my best friend because having a thirteen year old as my best friend would be really weird."

Admittedly, trying to eat normally again had taken a conscious effort. Annie knew that she still slipped up, but she tried to at the very least make sure that Steve knew she was trying. A part of her was still trying so hard to make up for the things she said almost two weeks before, and that was the only way she knew how.

The diner they went to was a drive-thru as well, so Steve went in that. Soon enough, they were parked in some field. Annie wasn't sure where it was, but she didn't give it much thought.

Both of them were dipping fries into their shakes as the radio played softly in the background. It was already dark, but Steve had his car light turned on so they could both still see.

"I haven't heard you complaining yet," Annie said, grinning.

Steve shrugged, "Maybe there's nothing to complain about and you were right."

"Told you so," she said, dipping a fry in her chocolate shake and eating it.

he sighed, "Do you think he's gonna be okay?"

"Dustin?"

Steve nodded.

"Yeah, let me level with you here," she turned to look at him, "Most girls are just as awkward as boys and I'm sure they wouldn't be able to say no to Dustin even if they don't know him at all."

He sighed, "You think so?"

"I know so," she let out a nervous laugh, "Trust me, there were people I wanted to say no to but didn't feel like I could."

"I- um, are you sure you’re still talking about dances?"

"No, um... I'm thinking of my first boyfriend," she stared down at her shake, "He was four years older than me, and I was dumb enough to think he actually loved me, you know? I wanted him to... but I think he just cared about getting in my pants."

Steve frowned, "Did he? Sorry, you don't have to-"

"No, no, it's alright. Um... he did," she shook her head, "Sorry, I didn't mean to unload all that."

He shook his head and held her hand, "Hey, hey, don't apologize for that. I'm glad you told me, and whatever happened with all that, I promise no one's gonna get away with making you feel that way again."

"How can you promise that?"

"Uh- well," he let go of her hand, "I guess I can't really, but if someone does, I'd take care of them for you."

"Like, kill them?" she laughed a bit.

He shrugged, "At least I would try. You did the same for me."

"I almost got myself killed too," she pointed out.

Steve dipped a fry in his strawberry shake and gestured with it, "But you're here now."

"Well, I just didn't want you getting hurt worse," she said, feeling a bit of the shake hit her nose.

He leaned over to wipe off a bit of the shake, "Sorry, you had a bit of my shake there."

"It's fine," she said, trying to not stare at his face, "Um... but I think you've got something right um..."

Her eyes were darting from his warm, brown eyes to his lips that did have just the slightest bit of strawberry shake on them. A part of her could have sworn he was staring at her lips, but she couldn't tell from how close their faces were. Not that she would have known since she was the one to press her lips to his for just a split second.

She pulled back just as quickly and all she noticed were Steve's wide eyes.

Instantly, there was a surge of adrenaline that went all throughout Annie, but she couldn't do anything. All she could do was curl in on herself and bury her head in her hands. This was it, she knew that she had to have ruined everything. The amount of silence that was in the car aside from the faint playing of some unrecognizable song was indicative enough.

The silence bit at her worse than any amount of yelling or words could have. She couldn't see what Steve was thinking and she didn't want to see any of that, frankly. It would only end up hurting worse. Though, she couldn't sit in the silence for any longer.

"Sorry- I just- can we forget I did that?" she asked, her voice cracking, "I shouldn't have done anything, I'm sorry. An-and I know that you don't feel the same or whatever. I mean, why would you? I'm not nearly as perfect or smart of pretty or skinny or anything as Nancy."

Steve shook his head and placed a hand on her shoulder, "Hey, how can you talk about the girl I like that way? I like you, come on, you saved my life, how couldn't-"

"I don't want you to like me because I could have died or some shit to save you," she said, starting to relax.

He shook his head, "Will you let me finish? Even if you hadn't done any of that, I'd still like you. You're so smart and you're pretty funny in that sarcastic way and I really like that. And... and you've actually gotten me to like books, you do all the voices and I never thought I would think that was cool. I like you because you're incredible, okay?"

"You mean that?"

"Yes, and I never wanna hear you compare yourself to Nancy again," he said, turning so he could face her better, "You're both great in your own ways, but I like you."

Annie felt tears pricking at her eyes, but she was smiling, "So... you actually like me. As in, you wanna, like, go on dates or something?"

"Yeah, and write you really long notes like how they did in those books you read. If you'll put up with my shitty handwriting," he said, tucking her hair behind her ear as he cupped her face.

She felt her face heat up, "I've never had anyone do that for me before."

"Well, how else am I gonna tell you about what I think about you?" he asked, his finger tracing over her scar lightly, "Like how you're gorgeous."

Her eyes couldn't quite meet his, "You um... you don't have to-"

"No, Annie, I do. You're gorgeous and that scar only adds to it, okay? It's a part of you and I like that. And maybe it shouldn't mean a whole lot to me, but it does."

"Steve..." she felt her eyes almost about to overflow with tears.

He looked at her with the same expression he did that night she snuck into his room, "How about we try that kiss again?"

All she could do was nod before they were both leaning in. The kiss was short lived due to how neither of them were able to stop smiling. They tried a couple more times, only to get the same result.

"You taste like strawberries," she said as her forehead was pressed against his.

"Yeah?"

She nodded.

Both of them were only able to stare at each other for a little bit. There was a certain sense of relief between both of them as they sat there.

Steve shook his head, "Wow, I can't believe you actually like me."

"How can't I? I mean, I'm just here for the hair," she said before grinning, "And I might be here for your charming but dorky attitude. I don't think I've had someone make me feel like laughing this much in forever."

He kissed her cheek, "So, what do you wanna do with this?"

"What do you mean?"

"Are we just gonna leave it at this or are we gonna date?"

"Why wouldn't we be dating?"

"I don't know, I guess before Nancy, I just kinda screwed around with girls that liked me and we both just forgot about it afterwards."

"I don't want that. I wanna, I don't know, lay around and listen to music we like and talk for hours. You don't have to do a lot to make me happy, I just need you to be there."

He nodded, "I can do that."

This time was different. Steve wasn't some guy trying to use her or creep her out. They were friends, and she felt like they would still be friends even when they were together. She just didn't want to have to be alone, it was that simple.

A few kisses later and they were both finishing off their milkshakes, laughing about the dumbest things they could come up with. It didn't take a lot to bring a smile to either of their faces. Never mind how neither of them would be able to sleep properly because of nightmares. For once, they were both able to completely forget about that.

They had to get back to the middle school to pick up Dustin a couple hours after they dropped him off. Steve held her hand the whole drive there. Maybe he should have been more focused on the slick spots outside, but he didn't care.

What did it matter when they made it to the school in one piece. Hopefully, if she finally made it clear she was holding Steve's hand, Dustin wouldn't make her move. It was a hope that had likely been delusional on Annie's part, since she was quickly in the back seat once again.

Not that she minded. She enjoyed sitting behind both of the guys more than she cared to admit. Though, she couldn't help frowning when she heard about how Dustin got rejected by every girl he asked to dance. That had to have stung.

"Nancy danced with me, though!" Dustin added, "And that made other girls decide to ask me."

Annie leaned forward, "Well? What did you say?"

"I told them no."

"Good for you!" she grinned, giving him a high-five, "You know he got that from me, right?"

Steve sighed, "O don't know, that sounds like not caring."

"Nah, it's him being petty and I respect that."

"She's right, Steve. She's usually right."

Steve pulled into Dustin's driveway, "Whatever, kid. Say hi to your mom for us."

"Yep. Goodnight, love birds," Dustin said as he got out of the car.

Annie crawled into the front of Steve's car again, laughing as he pecked her lips. 

He pouted, "You can't do that! I'm tryna kiss my girlfriend."

"So I'm your girlfriend?" she asked, grinning.

He nodded, "Well, yeah, unless there's a problem with any of that."

"No, I want that," she pressed a quick kiss to his lips.

There was something about driving around on that cold, December night that felt almost endless. Steve was headed over to her house to drop her off, but Annie could see he was going under the speed limit. 

He gave her hand a light squeeze, "So you don't have to answer this but when did you start liking me?"

"Um... I mean, I almost kissed you that night with the demodogs, I don't know if you remember. I wouldn't say I really liked you then, I didn't know you very well. It didn't hit me that I liked you until you just showed up after everything on Thanksgiving. Um... what about you?"

"You remember that time, like, a weekish ago when you were reading that one book where they played that game about saying interesting things and the one character... um Emmy?"

"Emma."

"Yeah, her! And she said that thing about the one woman being really boring in front of everyone? I've never been that shocked by something in my life and you were so into it and it was the cutest thing."

Once he pulled up to her house, he pulled Annie in for another kiss before getting out of the car with her.

"I um... since we're dating, I figured I should, you know, make sure you get home really safe," he said once they were at her door.

She laughed, "You're a dork."

"I'm your dork," he said, pulling her into a tight hug where he kissed the top of her head, "Didn't realize you were so short."

She looked up at him, "Didn't realize you were so tall."

They both ended up laughing and it took them a couple minutes before Steve walked off and Annie went inside the house. It wasn't even that late, but she couldn't help feeling like the house should have been dead.

Yet her mom sat at the coffee table, working on some papers when Annie walked into the house.

"So, how was it?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, I was really excited to write it. I'd love to hear your thoughts!


	12. Chapter Eleven: Jingle All The Way

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Christmas has finally come to Hawkins and has allowed for everyone to take the time to be happy and decompress from the past month’s events.

"Do you think she's gonna like these?" Steve asked, closing the oven as he put some brownies in.

Annie hopped off of his kitchen counter and nodded, "She'll love them. Trust me, Steve, I've gone on and on non-stop about how amazing you are to her. She already loves you, she just wants to know who's been making me so happy lately."

"That's me, right?"

She laughed, grabbing the rubber spatula and dabbing a bit of brownie batter on the tip of Steve's nose, "It's definitely you, I promise."

"That's sweet and all, but did you really just dab batter all over my face?"

"Just your nose."

Steve got the rubber spatula out of Annie's hand with ease before dabbing it on her lips, "Really?"

Before either of them could properly realize what she was doing, she already had Steve pulled down to her level by the collar of a dark green polo shirt before kissing his nose. Which he responded to by kissing her. That was something that became more and more common over the bit of time they officially started dating for.

The school wasn't about to find anything concerning their relationship until after the new year, and Annie liked it that way. They had a chance to try being together in the best environment. It was hard to screw up hanging out with each other, after all.

Within the last week, they ended up hanging out almost every day. Someone had to show Annie what to do with snow. Seattle never got a whole lot of it and Steve had no qualms about running outside and almost freezing to death in it. Annie preferred the part where they went inside and made hot chocolate while cuddling with each other on the couch. The cuddling part couldn't be done quite as well when hanging out with the kids in the past few days.

As much teasing as they got from the kids, Annie was pretty sure they were okay with it. Not that it would have made her stop dating Steve.

There was batter all over both of their faces, but neither seemed to care. Steve left kisses all over her face that made Annie laugh. It was amazing how being out of school for a little while made her realize she didn't mind being touched by someone else. At least, not as long as she liked the person in question.

"So, I don't have anything to worry about?" he asked, looking down at her.

She nodded, "Exactly, you're gonna be fine. Just be your dorky self and it'll be fine."

Of course, there was a part of her that worried about her dad making another appearance. It still didn't stop her from burning the letters that got sent her way. She read one a couple months ago and that was all she needed.

"Hey, what's up?" he asked.

She shook her head, "Oh, nothing!"

"Are you sure?"

"I just don't want my dad screwing up Christmas, you know?" she said, "He screwed up Thanksgiving, and that's not a super huge deal, but I don't want him being all rude to you."

"It's gonna be fine," he said, pulling her in for a hug, "And even if he shows up, we'll work it out."

Annie nodded, letting herself just stand there in his arms. There was just something about how Steve's arms felt around her. They were so assuring and they were firm, but not strong enough to hold her still. It wasn't anything she had to worry about.

Though, a part of her was waiting for the other shoe to drop. For Steve to do something or for her to do something stupid. That was how these things tended to work. Not that she knew a whole lot, but it was how her parents worked. She didn't like to admit it, but it was also how her last relationships worked.

It probably wasn't anything worth worrying about. Not on a Christmas Eve night that was about to turn into Christmas Day in a matter of ten minutes. She already had his gift wrapped and kept in her dresser so he wouldn't get too nosy and find it. 

"Do you think you're gonna get bored?" she asked, barely realizing she said anything until she felt Steve move so he could look at her.

He frowned, "Of course not, why do you think that?"

"Just, I mean, we kinda met when a lot was happening and, well, if we're not doing something super dramatic, don't you think it's gonna get boring?"

"If not having any drama is boring, then I think that's the best way for things to be," he let out a sigh, "Like, when we were dealing with monsters and stuff, didn't you wish things were boring?"

She nodded, "Yeah... yeah, I guess I did."

"And you're not a boring person either. You have so much to say and I'm pretty sure I could listen to you talk for the next year without stopping and I still wouldn't get bored of hearing you talk."

"Really?"

"Really, I should be more worried about you getting bored of me," he laughed.

It was supposed to be a joke, but Annie knew better.

She took his hands in hers, "You're not boring at all."

"I'm okay with being boring, you know. I don't need to-"

"Steve!" she caught his attention, "You're not, though. Come on, you do sports, and I hated sports until I heard you talk about basketball."

"I'm gonna get benched."

"I could plant weed in Hargrove's locker and then you won't."

"You wouldn't."

Annie shrugged nonchalantly.

"Even if he wasn't there... I'm still not nearly in shape enough."

She looked at him, frowning, "You're the most beautiful, and probably most in-shape, guy I've ever known."

"You're my girlfriend, you have to say that."

"I don't have to say anything I don't believe. And I like every part of you from your floppy hair and your birthmarks and your eyes and your tummy's a great pillow because Lord knows I never get enough sleep. And that's without going into how kind and brave you are."

"You think that?"

She pulled him down to kiss him, "I know that."

Christmas was never the biggest holiday for Annie, but it was obviously different from how she celebrated it years before. With only her mom in the house, that should have taken Christmas shopping down by a lot. However, she did not count on befriending a bunch of kids. There were so many of them, but she would see them all later.

A part of her was anxious about Steve meeting her mom, though she was more excited than anything else. She had only said good things about Steve, knowing that he would be nervous about this. Not that there was much to be nervous about. 

Annie knew that the only thing to worry about was whether or not her dad decided to make an appearance. That was something she felt would be fine, though. Mainly because snow was blocking the roads, making most travel impossible. At least, as far as going on the interstate went.

"So, when's Steve getting here?" her mom asked.

Annie heard a knock at the door, "Um... I think that's him!"

She was quick to rush to the door, seeing Steve with a rather large bag and a tupperware container, "You made it!"

Steve nodded, a smile was on his face that was far too large for any regular person, "Yep, your mom's here right?"

"Yeah, relax, she'll love you!"

Her mom stood from where she sat on the couch, "Steve! It's great to meet you, I've heard so much about you!"

"Um yeah, it's great to meet you, Mrs. Hardwick," he said, extending a free hand to shake.

The first thing her mom latched onto was that Steve baked brownies in the shape of Christmas trees. Something that neither Annie nor Steve pointed out was a team effort and involved both of them getting rather distracted thanks to each other. If Annie admitted that she kind of slept over at his place, she was sure that would put a wrench in the day.

As it turned out, Annie was more correct than she originally thought when it came to her mom loving Steve. They ended up talking to each other more than she did. Not that she was complaining, she took it as a good sign. There was nothing to worry about after all.

"I'm glad I finally got to meet you, Steve, but I'm pretty sure my daughter's got something she wants to give you," her mom said, getting up and walking off to her office.

Annie grinned, "I told you so!"

"Your mom's so cool! She's so smart," he smiled, "So... you have something for me?"

She nodded, handing him a box, "Now, keep in mind, I figured this out before we were dating, but I think it still works perfectly."

"Yeah?" he asked as he took the box and unwrapped it, "Oh, curtains."

Annie laughed as she noticed how he was trying to not look sort of disappointed at the dark blue fabric, "Aren't you gonna take it out of the box?"

"Um yeah, sure, I can do that," he said, pulling out the curtains before noticing something was wrapped in them, "Tapes?"

She nodded, "Yep, you said that you were really invested in  _ Emma _ , but you also said you liked it better when I was reading it to you. Obviously I didn't narrate it, but the person reading it's pretty good and-"

He wrapped her in a tight hug, "It's perfect, thank you."

Annie smiled, melting into his touch. Though, he was soon pulling back so he could pull something out of his larger bag.

"It's not nearly as thoughtful, but here you go," he said, handing her a bag.

She took it and started to take out the tissue paper, "I'm sure it's great."

The bag had a notebook and a couple of tapes. Though, she was pretty sure that it wasn't an audio book. She picked up one of the tapes.

"I'm not great with names like you are, but they're both full of songs that remind me of you. Maybe you know some of them, or not but I thought you might like it. And I know you said you didn't know how to let out your feelings and I remember hearing something about writing being a good way to figure that stuff out and-"

She pecked him on the lips, "Thank you, they're amazing."

After staying at Annie's house for a little while longer and having a nice lunch, she and Steve went off to Hopper's cabin. She claimed it was so her mom and Scott could have a nice time and be alone. Which was part of the reason, but she also wanted to see the kids. They did a not quite so Secret Santa of sorts. One that she was pretty sure Steve cheated on given that he had a pretty large bag with him.

It was easy to find something for Max, who she was lucky enough to pick. Lucas had begged her to switch since he got Steve and had no clue what to get him. She didn't budge, though, having decided that she was going to roll with it.

And even between learning about her powers, which she still had yet to tell anyone about, she found herself bonding with Max the best. With a bit of help from the owner of the local comic book store, she was able to find some Wonder Woman comics that she was sure Max would really like.

Once at the little get together, it was easy to feel just as comfortable as she did at home. The only awkward thing was seeing Jonathan and Nancy together. Even that wasn't all too bad. At least, until Nancy went up to both of them, asking to talk to Steve.

Annie stood back so she wouldn't worry herself with whatever those two were talking about. Instead, she found Lucas.

"Hey, did you take my advice?" she asked.

Lucas nodded, "Yep, your boyfriend will officially have the best present in the galaxy."

"If you say so," she laughed, "If you really think an R2D2 is the best present."

He shrugged, "You're the one who said Star Wars."

It was true, that was her suggestion. She knew that he liked it even if he didn't like to admit it so easily. This was the one way to make sure that Steve got something that he was interested in. He didn't share everything that he liked openly, so that made figuring out what to do for him a bit difficult.

A little bit later and Nancy approached her, "Hey, can I talk to you?"

"Yeah, sure," Annie nodded, "What's up?"

Nancy let out a sigh, "I just wanted to say I'm sorry. You know, for not stopping all those rumors. I know you didn't do anything with Steve. He's not the type."

"Yeah, you're right. He's also not the type to tell you that you didn't treat him nearly as well as he deserved," she said, "But I'm the type to tell you that apologizing now that all that's kinda on the backburner's too little too late."

"That's why I'm apologizing."

"And I don't accept it."

Nancy blinked and crossed her arms, "Why not? If you don't mind me asking."

"I had to deal with guys treating me like I was a piece of meat, like I was some sort of exotic prize to be won," she shook her head, "You wouldn't get it. And maybe if you said something, nothing would have changed, but at least it would have meant you cared about someone other than yourself."

"I care about other people."

"Well then I'm not other people," she replied, "Merry Christmas."

Not too long after that exchange, it was time for everyone to give their presents to the right person. Really, the gift giver wasn't secret at all. The goal was to just make sure that no one spent an arm and a leg trying to get something for the whole group. Though, Steve clearly didn't get the memo. Not that she blamed him for getting something for each of the kids. He wanted to make them feel special.

A few minutes after she gave Max her present, someone tugged on the sleeve of her sweater. Annie smiled a bit, seeing El.

The young girl handed Annie a bag, "For you."

Annie opened the bag to see a blue Care Bear with a crescent moon on its stomach.

"You said you can't sleep. It's a bedtime bear," El explained.

She smiled and felt tears prick at the back of her brown eyes, "I love it."

That was when it hit her, if anyone would understand what was going on with her, it had to be El. Everyone was starting to go off to the kitchen since there was some food that was ready. Though she caught El's attention before she could follow.

"I need to show you something," Annie said, "I think I'm like you."

While she trusted everyone in this cabin to keep any of her powers a secret, she trusted that El would be the most understanding. So she started by unplugging the tree. Then, she set her focus on the lights. She had practiced a little bit over the last few weeks, so making the tree turn on by herself didn't strain her as much as it had before.

The once dim tree was now lit up with the lights glowing a light blue. Annie felt a drop of blood come down from her nose.

"What the hell?!" Steve exclaimed, which made Annie lose concentration and the tree went dark again.

Annie's eyes were so wide they could have popped out of her head, "Um... I-I can explain?"

"Can you? Because it looks like you did that yourself," he shook his head, "How long have you known?"

She pursed her lips and looked at the floor, "Three weeks."

"Wait, seriously?"

El looked between both of them and walked away to the kitchen. It wasn't that either of them seemed heated, but Annie knew she needed a chance to just explain it to Steve. Except, she wasn't sure how to. All she could do was nod.

"Does anyone know?" he asked, stepping closer to her, "Is this the first time you've told anyone?"

Annie took a shaky breath and nodded again, "You remember that day we were fighting? And how my hand was all bandaged up from the phone breaking? I um... I broke it on accident."

"I don't understand."

"I was talking to my dad and I got really angry and I made it short circuit. When I went to your place that night... I meant to tell you about this because I thought it would sweep everything under the rug. It's how my parents worked, focusing on the next thing instead of apologizing. Then, it turned out you were miserable and so I didn't tell you," she looked up at him as she chewed on the inside of her cheek.

He frowned, "Why didn't you tell me later?"

"It never felt like a good time. I guess I just didn't wanna make you worry about me."

"Hey, I'm your boyfriend, I'm gonna worry about you. You can tell me about this stuff, even if I don't really get it," he pressed a kiss to the top of her head.

She smiled a bit, "You're not gonna tell anyone, right?"

"No... not unless this teddy bear counts as someone," he said, nodding down at the blue bear.

Annie laughed, "You're such a dork."

"I'm your dork, though," he replied, grinning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope y'all liked this chapter, I love hearing feedback from you guys!!!


	13. Chapter Twelve: I Want Your Midnights

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> New Year’s Day finally approaches and brings the promise of new opportunities. Though, this doesn’t come without some trials and tribulations.

Steve never considered himself to be a scientific person. The subject had never piqued his interest in the past. However, it would have been a lie to say he wasn't interested in seeing what Annie could do with her newfound electrical powers. He insisted on being around when she tried things in case something went wrong. It wasn't a far-fetched idea after seeing how much of a fire hazard it was to test out that stuff.

Though, most of all, Steve wanted to make sure that Annie didn't overdo it. Sometimes it seemed like she would just get a bit carried away. Not even a week in and it was clear that if he didn't make her stop that she would have had no qualms about going until her skin was ashen from exhaustion. That tied in with the blood loss? Steve never let Annie do that to herself.

"Don't you think that's enough for right now?" Steve asked, looking at the nearly empty tissue box.

She huffed, "No, I really don't."

"Come on, doesn't that look like enough blood for the day?"

"It's not that much. Come on, I know I can get the TV to work on my own."

He put an arm around her, "You can't when you're exhausted... hey, what's wrong?"

"Nothing, it's- it's really stupid."

"Babe, if it's got you this tense, it can't be that stupid," he said, shifting so he could rub her back.

She let out a sigh, "Okay, it's not stupid but it's- have you ever wished someone were dead?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean um- I want Billy dead. He's done nothing but hurt you and, well, you know. School's not back yet, but it will be and he'll keep staring at me like I'm some piece of meat and I can't take that again," she felt tears pricking at her eyes.

He slowly nodded, "And that connects to your powers because?"

"I don't know, I guess I've never been this angry about something. Like, I don't actually wanna kill him, but if he got run over by a plane and it backed up on him-"

"Hey, hey, hey. I hate him as much as you do, but you can't use whatever powers you have to kill someone."

"Why not?!" her voice cracked as she turned to face him, "He would've killed you and he wouldn't've given a shit! Why can't I do the same?!"

Steve pulled her into a hug, "Because that's not you. If I could bash his face in for how he's made you feel and what he's done to you and the kids I would, but..."

"But we're supposed to be better? Steve, I don't care about being better. I care about making him wish he never even thought about speaking to any of us. A-and I'm so tired of having to act like he can just get away with all that!"

"He- I just don't want things to get worse for you. And I don't want you doing all that for me when it could get you hurt," he held her closer as he felt her cry into his chest, "C'mon, how about we do something kinda normal tonight?"

She sniffled, "Normal how?"

"Like... I don't know, what do people do for New Year's?"

"They don't cry about shit that happened months ago."

Steve kissed the top of her head, "Sure they do. But they also do things that make them feel better, what's your favorite type of cookie?"

"Chocolate chip," she looked up at him, "Why?"

He grinned, "I'm gonna make you some of your favorite cookies and I brought us a bottle of champagne if you want. We can listen to music and whatever else you want."

"I'd really like that," she said as he wiped a tear from her cheek, "You're the best. You know that, right?"

He shook his head, "You just say that because I'm making you cookies."

"I mean it. Making cookies for me or not, you're the best."

Perhaps it wasn't the most orthodox way to celebrate the new year, but neither of them cared. Annie's mom had to take off and work on something in Indianapolis. It was fine with her since it meant having a chance to stay over with Steve. Something she partially did because she liked being around him, but also because she still didn't trust the house when she was alone. Steve hated how large his house was when it was one of those nights when he needed all the lights on. So naturally, they were taking up residence in Annie's kitchen.

Erik wouldn't stop weaving himself between Steve's legs, causing Annie to laugh whenever he nearly tripped. The night was rather calm. It was a bit chilly since neither of them could manage to get a fire started that lasted longer than ten minutes and her mom told her to not use the heating too often. So that meant Annie clung onto Steve as he moved around the kitchen.

He pouted and she simply clung tighter, "You're a human space heater."

"Yeah?" he asked as he was finally starting to get some of the dough rolled out.

She nodded as she let go so she could take another sip from the champagne bottle, "Yeah, you're so warm."

"Are you cold?" he asked, moving to take off his sweatshirt.

Annie nodded once again and he handed her the Hawkins High Basketball sweatshirt he wore since he still had a long sleeve shirt underneath. The sweatshirt was quickly on her body and she couldn't help smiling.

Was she tipsy? Maybe a little bit. The Beatles song that played in the background seemed to just melt into the background. She also melted into the sweatshirt a bit, able to smell the mix of Farrah Fawcett spray and the cologne he wore.

He laughed a bit as he felt her arms around his waist, "You alright?"

"Yeah, all nice an' warm, but I like holding you," she murmured, pressing her face against his back.

"Are you drunk?"

"No, I'm close to that though."

"I'm pretty sure you're supposed to wait until midnight for that," he said, putting the cookies in the oven and then turning back to face her, "But since we're here... how'd you feel about wearing my letterman to the next basketball game?"

It was something Steve asked a few days before. Annie remembered the day that the jacket finally came back with all the things Nancy gave back. That was when she realized the school colors really were orange and green. Steve's letterman jacket was easily the ugliest thing she had ever seen, and she made sure he knew that at the time.

She shrugged, "Maybe... if you did something for me after."

"Oh? Like what?"

She looked him up and down, "You know, like," she tried to wriggle her eyebrows.

Steve made sure to keep the bottle away from Annie for a little while. That ended up being enough for Annie to not even think about drinking anymore. Though, she did insist on throwing on some music as they waited for the first batch of cookies. Steve turned on the radio, not letting Annie do it with her mind when she was obviously pretty tipsy.

"Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" came through on the radio and Steve let out a groan. That had to be the millionth time either of them had heard the song. It was just about everywhere for whatever reason.

Annie laughed, "It's our song!"

"What?!"

"Well, it's always playing when you turn on the radio in the last week... so yeah."

"But it..." Steve looked at her only to see how her head tilted as though she didn't get what the issue was and he shook his head, "It's perfect."

She grinned as they both danced around the kitchen. It wasn't perfect, but neither of them really cared. They were both laughing as they tried to move while not slipping onto the floor in their socks.

Once the cookies were made, the pair went to Annie's room so they could stare at the clock as midnight got closer. It hadn't taken more than an hour for Annie to sober up completely and Steve never had that much to drink. They were both talking and laughing as they ate cookies. It beat whatever party Steve's parents were at, that was for sure.

The digital clock on Annie's desk hit 11:59 and Steve tugged on her sleeve, "Babe, it's almost the new year."

"Yeah, what're you gonna do?"

"I'm gonna kiss my beautiful girlfriend and apply to tech school," he bit his lip, waiting for her reaction.

She smiled, "That's great! Where is it?"

"It's an hour away, I could come back every weekend and we could call each other all the time. I know I told you I was staying but-"

"Steve, this is good. I don't care if it's one hour away or ten, you can do this."

"You think so?"

Annie grinned, "I know so."

They squeezed each other's hands as they waited for the remaining time left in the year to run out. A lot could happen in a few seconds, but everything was still for both of them. For once, there wasn't a rush for either of them to do anything. The clock showed that it was midnight.

"Happy new year!" Steve cheered out, making Annie laugh.

She wasted no time in pressing her lips to his and Steve didn't hesitate to kiss her back. The kiss started off innocently enough with both of them sitting on her bedroom floor. One of Steve's hands cupped Annie's face and one of his fingers ran over where she knew the scar was. There were usually a million thoughts running through her head, but this time she was just focused on the moment between the both of them.

It didn't take much time for both of them to get closer as Steve's arms wrapped around her torso and Annie's were around his neck. Both of their actions were starting to get more and more heated. That hadn't been the original plan, but neither of them wanted to stop it.

Not that this was the first time both of them ran their hands over each other. A couple weeks into their relationship, and they ended up knowing enough about each other. While neither of them wanted to rush things, they also weren't about to hold back. It was a careful balance, but Annie had yet to have any qualms about melting into Steve's touch.

Steve smiled into the kiss and pulled back so he could kiss down her neck. She let out a slight gasp as he did so.

There was a smile on her face, "I was serious earlier."

"About what?" he asked as he pressed kisses along her collarbone.

"Having sex. Not about the letterman. That thing should burn," she said, though she was giggling a bit.

Steve pulled back to look at her, "It's... it's not ugly!"

"Steve..." she looked at him.

He sighed, "Fine, it's ugly. But um... you're sure you're ready for that?"

"I mean, yeah? Why wouldn't I be?"

"You don't have to do anything you don't w-"

"Unless you don't wanna, then we don't have to do anything," she added quickly.

He shook his head, "No, no, trust me, I want to. I just want it to be good for you."

"I'm not a virgin, I'll be fine."

"I don't care about that," he said, kissing the top of her head, "I want you to be comfortable and I wanna make you feel good.

She smiled a bit, "You will, I know you will."

"Wait... do you mean that um... you wanna have sex right now?"

"Why not? I'm on the pill."

"You're what?"

"My mom found out I was having sex about a year ago and she got me on the pill. I stayed on it 'cause my periods are better when I'm on it."

He nodded, "Okay, yeah, we can do that then."

"I got a condom too, one of those ones they passed out in health a while ago."

"You don't have to-"

"I want to," she said, looking at him.

He smiled at her, giving an affectionate look as he pressed another kiss to her lips. This time, it was heated from the start as they both kissed each other. Annie broke it off so she could kiss down his neck.

It was starting to get pretty hot in her room, so Annie pulled off the sweatshirt she borrowed and that took off the shirt she had on before and Steve stared at her. For a moment, she thought it was because he was staring at every single part that she hadn't wanted him to see. That couldn't have been further from the case.

"Wow, you look- you look amazing," he said, smiling as he looked at her.

With that, Steve took off his shirt, tossing it to the ground as he picked her up so they could move to the bed. Something that would be more comfortable. He laid her down on the bed and climbed so he was on top of her.

Annie hated that the only thing she could suddenly think of was being pinned to the ground and suddenly cigarettes were cutting into the moment she was having with Steve. All that was on her mind was wanting to sink into the bed and disappear. When she looked at Steve, she saw his brows furrow, but some ringing noise was making it impossible for her to hear what he was saying.

"I-I'm sorry," was all she could get herself to say and she moved out from under Steve so they were both next to each other on her twin bed.

It was a tight fit, but Steve managed to find a way to position himself just so she had space. She felt tears in her eyes again and she wished she could stop crying. Doing all of this had been her idea and she couldn't even follow through. Why couldn't she do this?

"Fuck," she said as she turned so Steve wouldn’t see her cry.

He quickly shifted to her, "Annie, it's okay. You know that, right?"

"But it's not! I-I couldn't even have you on top of me without thinking about... about..."

"I know," he sighed as he moved to snake his arms around her, "What happened to you hurt a lot."

She huffed, "But he didn't even do anything!"

"Except he did. He made you feel like you couldn't do anything," he ran a hand up and down her arms, "I might've gotten the shit beaten out of me, but you've got more going on in your head."

"If it's in my head then why can't I just stop it?"

"Um... I-I don't really know, but I'll be right by your side the whole time you figure this out."

"I don't wanna figure anything out. I just wanna have sex with you without a bunch of other shit messing it up."

He kissed her cheek, "And that'll happen someday. I know it will."

"Someday?!"

"Maybe not today or tomorrow, but soon. I'm not gonna rush you into anything. You don't have to worry about that now, you know that."

She slumped a little bit as she felt Steve holding onto her from behind, "You're not mad?"

"No, of course not. Whenever we do this, I want you to be just as into it as I am," he kissed her head again.

Neither of them minded the position they were in. Both of them shirtless and just holding onto each other. Steve ran his fingers through her hair. Something she normally would do for him. She was starting to understand why he let her do it so often. It made her less tense. There wasn't anything or anyone to worry about. Steve wasn't going to complain that she led him on or anything like that.

She could hear him smile as he spoke, "I get why you do this a lot now. Your hair's really soft."

"I should make you do this for me more often."

They both laid like that, the light still on. Half the time they just left it like that. Why risk having a nightmare and waking up to nothing but the dark? Neither of them saw the appeal. Instead, they both stayed in that position. Annie fell asleep first while Steve was still stroking her long hair and then Steve fell asleep soon after. His face was buried in the crook of her neck.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, I love hearing your thoughts!!!


	14. Chapter Thirteen: Picking Up the Pieces

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With school back for the spring semester, Steve and Annie aren’t exactly thrilled. Though, there are some surprises in store for both of them.

The thought of going back to school made Annie want to throw up more than she cared to admit. It wasn't something she even thought about admitting to anyone. No one needed to know that. All of her reasons were silly in the first place.

She couldn't just avoid everyone who tormented her for the rest of her life. That wasn't how the world worked. It didn't matter what those people did. There wasn't a school she could transfer to instead.

Even if she could, how could she ever convince her mom? It had been over two months since everything happened. If she explained everything now, then she would have to explain why she waited so long. That was what kept her from vocalizing how much everything bothered her. A part of her wanted to say something, but how could she explain it?

It was exactly what Steve told her all those months ago, she couldn't tell anyone anything otherwise she would lose everything. She had too much to lose. Sure, it took some time, but she had a boyfriend and friends and her mom. If she wanted to explain herself, it wouldn't paint her or Steve in a good light. Not once Billy decided to say something about them trying to keep him from getting his step-sister. She knew that if she ever tried to say something, he would point out that she tried to cut his throat.

If she had, maybe this wouldn't be such a huge issue. Though, she knew that she would have a whole other can of worms to unpack. That didn't mean it never crossed her mind. 

Still, the first day of the spring semester started whether she wanted it or not. Time persisted no matter how hard she tried to cling onto to moments she spent with Steve or the kids. None of that time was spent explaining her feelings.

Upon reaching the school, Annie almost expected her locker to be graffitied again. Not that she used it after the incident. Sometimes her back hurt from carrying around textbooks, but she refused to even approach it even after the janitor painted over it. Thankfully, there wasn't anything like that to be found. No one even blinked an eye upon seeing her holding hands with Steve. Anything that dealt with them was old news.

Regardless of all the good signs, no sigh of relief was breathed until almost the end of the day. When people talked to her, it was about school. Better than that, in theater class, it was all about the spring musical.

She had been a week too late to try out for the fall play, but now she was right on time to audition for  _ Chicago _ . The teacher had to have gotten the idea from the Tonys last summer. Not that Annie was going to complain about that. It was a good musical, and she already knew which part she wanted.

Maybe this really could be her year.

Once the last bell of the day rang, Annie rushed to Steve's locker. He was getting some of his things, stiffening up when he felt Annie wrap his arms around him before relaxing. A laugh left his mouth and he pressed a kiss to the top of her head.

"Hey, are you good to wait until practice gets done?" he asked.

She grinned, "More than good. I'll miss you, though."

"It's just an hour," he said, tucking some of her hair behind her ear.

"Yeah, and? Do you realize how much can happen in an hour?"

"Good point, you got me there," he leaned down to press a quick kiss to her lips, "Wish me luck!"

With that, Steve was rushing down the hall. She figured he wanted to get there early so maybe he would look better compared to Billy. Not that she thought it was a contest. Of course, she didn't get a chance to tell him that.

Steve was her ride home, so she went to the library to pass the time. The plan was to figure out what song to audition with. She had so much work to do. Not having anything to work with earlier, she felt like she was definitely out of practice. Still, Hawkins High wasn't a huge school and the theater department was no exception. In a town like this, she was sure she could get the part she wanted.

The small library was nice in its own quaint way. It was quiet. She spent a good chunk of her first couple weeks sitting in a chair next to one of the windows. There wasn't much of a view, but she could see the clouds outside. If only it would rain instead of snow. Maybe that would be the case in a few months.

Annie stared out the window, spaced out for a few moments. There wasn't anything to stare at. Sure, she could see the middle school, but that wasn't worth staring at. That was until she noticed Lucas. He probably got out late for one reason or another.

There wasn't much to think of it until she saw Billy. Wasn't he supposed to be somewhere else? She pushed away the thought, suddenly paying too much attention. Billy was walking towards Lucas and suddenly grabbing him by the shirt.

Before she could even comprehend what was happening, her hand gripped her backpack and she was rushing out of the library. She shoved her way out of the small exit in that part of the building.

"Hey, what do you think you're doing?" she asked, swallowing any urge that told her to run and hide.

Billy rolled his eyes, "I'm teaching a lesson."

"Lesson's over, let Lucas go."

"When I'm finished."

"I'm saying that you're finished," she said, her voice wavering slightly.

If something happened, could Lucas do anything? No one would be able to stop Billy. Still, she wasn't about to let this kid get hurt. Could she do something with her powers?

He let go of Lucas and turned to Annie, "What're you gonna do about it?"

"I-" she felt the lump in her throat as he approached her, "I'll..."

He stood right in front of her, "You'll what?"

All she could smell were cigarettes and his cologne and it was like she was on the floor of the Byers' living room all over again. Except this time nothing was pinning her to the ground. Nothing was holding her back and she kneed him before hitting him with her backpack.

"Woah, stop right there!" the librarian exclaimed, rushing out to all three of them.

She dropped the backpack and looked at the ground, not even noticing Jonathan followed her out.

"You're both lucky I don't give you any worse than detention. But I don't want to deal with the principal or your parents," the woman said.

Detention with Billy? That couldn't happen. Her head snapped up and she opened her mouth. There were a million things she wanted to say, but not one of them came out. Just a look of pure betrayal.

"I don't understand what the issue is. You're getting off easy. Both of you are," the librarian repeated.

Jonathan cleared his throat, "Can I um... can I say something?"

"What is it?"

He swallowed, "Um... m-mo-motherfucker."

Annie's look of betrayal quickly turned into a disbelieving laugh. The librarian looked just as shocked as she ended up handing out three detention slips. Billy retreated right after that, but Jonathan and Lucas stayed.

"Um... thanks?" she said.

Jonathan shrugged, "No problem... I don't know what the deal is there, but you don't need to worry about being alone with him."

"Right, thanks for that. Seriously."

He nodded, "Don't mention it. I'll see you Saturday."

There was an awkward pause, and Jonathan turned to go. She never gave him much thought. A part of her wanted to hold a grudge because of everything with Steve, but she didn't think that she had a reason to anymore. Not that it was ever anything serious.

"Annie," Lucas said, getting her attention, "You good?"

She nodded, "Yeah, yep, I'm fine."

"You didn't have to do any of that, you know."

"No, I did. I couldn't just- I couldn't let him hurt you."

"But he scares you."

Annie opened her mouth to contradict him, but why should she? He was right about that. Doing anything like she had was because she didn't think it through.

She could only shrug.

"I know what he did that night was wrong. With you, I mean..."

"You saw that?"

"We all did. I didn't know what to do."

She put a hand on his shoulder, "It's okay. You shouldn't have to know what to do for that situation. Max took care of it, though, and we're all okay now."

"You got some good hits in, you know."

"Did I?"

Lucas nodded, "I don't think he expected you to start swinging that bag around. I know I didn't, it's okay if you're scared of him. I am too."

"I'd do it again, you know. I know there aren't a lot of people like us. Not that I know everything about you, but I get not totally fitting in because of your skin color."

"Didn't notice."

Annie shot him a look and laughed, "All I'm saying is, I sorta get being the only non white kid in a group. I mean, that's my entire family life."

"Is it bad that I wish the others would notice?" Lucas asked.

"No, I don't think so. Ignoring the obvious just feels disingenuous."

He nodded, "Yeah, I just wish they'd just say there's a difference and realize it's not a bad thing."

"I know what you mean. Sometimes my parents tried too hard to make me feel normal or something like that."

"Oh yeah, you got adopted... that must suck."

She shook her head, "Not as much as you'd think, actually. I don't know who my bio parents are, but I'm sure my life's better with my mom than it is with whoever they are or were or something like that."

"You don't wanna know who they are?"

She shrugged, "If someone handed me their names today, that would be interesting. I don't see the point in searching for something that I already have."

"That makes sense," Lucas said, "Wait! Before I go, I think I found something of yours."

He dug through his backpack a little bit before finding a knife. Not just a knife, but the same one she lost that night.

Lucas handed it to her, "I meant to give this to you a bit ago, but I kept forgetting. I thought you might want it."

"Thanks... yeah, I was wondering about it."

"It was under the Byers' couch. I know you haven't been there after all that stuff. Which makes sense, but I thought you'd want it."

Annie nodded, putting the knife in her pocket, "Yeah, seriously, thanks you, Lucas."

"Anytime. I'll see you later," he said, walking back to where his bike was chained up. 

That left Annie on her own again, but this time it was easier for her to focus on the task she originally tried to accomplish. She sat in the library for the next half hour that she had to wait as Steve was at practice. Once the musical started up again, she knew that waiting around wouldn't be an issue. Steve would probably even have to wait on her sometimes.

Once Steve's practice was over, he was quick to embrace her. A part of her wanted to push him off, figuring he'd be all sweaty, but she ended up pulling him closer when he actually smelled like his shampoo. She pecked his lips, grinning.

"I'm assuming it was a good practice?" she asked, holding his hand as they walked to his car.

He nodded, "It was great! Hargrove walked in and he seemed like he got beat up, but it wasn't anything too obvious. He was late too, so the coach didn't mess with my spot too much."

"Um... Steve?"

"What?"

"I kinda hit him with my backpack a few times."

Steve blinked, "Are you crazy?"

"He was trying to hurt Lucas. So... we've got detention together, but Jonathan came in and called the librarian a motherfucker so you can figure what that's looking like."

He laughed, "Wait, Jonathan did that?!"

"You should've seen the look on the old lady's face! And everyone's face, probably. Jonathan looked surprised too."

Steve leaned over to kiss the top of her head as he unlocked the car, "So I don't need to get myself involved?"

"No, I can handle this," she insisted, "You know I can."

He got into the car and sighed, "Right, yeah, you can do this. It's just a few hours, right?"

"Yeah, I got this. And worst case scenario I just, well, I do something shocking," she said, closing the passenger door.

Steve rolled his eyes, "Again with the electricity puns."

"What, no one's gonna figure it out," she said, reaching to his hand again, "Seriously, it's not gonna be a problem."

He nodded, "You're right, you know what you're doing."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not gonna lie, I don't feel too great about this chapter, but hopefully you guys liked it!


	15. Chapter Fourteen: No Categories

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Being stuck in detention with a few other people, it is only natural to have some sort of long-winded conversation that no one learns anything from.

Getting in a car with Jonathan Byers to go to detention was not what Annie would have done with her Saturday morning if she had a chance. Still, it beat walking to detention and she knew that.

She ended up getting out of bed before Steve woke up for once. It was easier to sleep with someone next to her. Not that it ever fully got rid of all the nightmares, but it was as good as it got. So she waited until Jonathan was in her driveway before waking Steve a bit to let him know she was leaving.

"If you need me to beat up Billy for ya after, let me know," Steve murmured.

Annie kissed his nose, "You're not gonna do that, I'll be fine."

That was the goal at least. If she was there with Jonathan, then it didn't matter that Billy was there. Besides, there would be anyone else who got detention that first week back. Who knew what that could be for, but she wasn't banking on many people being there.

The car ride with Jonathan was pretty quiet aside from the cassette tape playing. If nothing else, she could say that the guy had good taste. Really, the only wrench between them was any grudge she had because he sort of played a part in Steve getting hurt. Not that it was a huge deal now. That was clearly the case considering how easily Jonathan gave up the day.

He pulled up to the school and they both stayed seated for a bit longer.

"Thanks for this... you um... I know it's probably not the way you wanted to spend today," she said, shrugging a little.

Jonathan sighed, "It wasn't, but you shouldn't have to deal with that guy alone."

With that, they both went to the school and walked straight to the library. Much to Annie's surprise, there were four other people. She recognized Billy and Carol, but wasn't completely familiar with the other two. They were both in her theater class and she knew that she would feel like an ass if she asked their names now.

Instead of the librarian running detention, it was the assistant. A man who only seemed to be a few years older than any of them. However, that meant he didn't really care what they said or did as long as they shelved the books and didn't bother him as he gossiped on the phone.

It was simple enough. Once all the shelving was done, she could just keep to herself until they could all go home. Everyone seemed rather content to do that. At least, everyone except for Billy who couldn't go five minutes without saying something to someone.

At first, all he did was talk to Carol. None of them really cared. Carol seemed to agree with him on anything he had to say, so he got bored of that easily. It was Annie's personal goal to not be a target. Though, she also trusted Jonathan to help her out if things got bad.

Though, his first actual remark was to the girl whose name Annie couldn't quite place.

"So what did you do to get detention, sweetheart?" Billy asked.

The girl side-eyed him as she shelved a book, "The name's Robin, and it's none of your business."

"Oh, come on! You're such a boring nerd, forgive me for having a hard time seeing you get into detention for any reason at all. You’re basically everything a parent could want. Boring and quiet," he said.

Annie watched as Robin sighed, "Not all of us like our parents as much as you'd think."

"Oh, you wanna trade places then? Do you wanna see what my old man did to me? His bitch of a wife didn't even bother to stop-"

"That's enough. You don't need to prove how much your life sucks," Jonathan said.

Billy approached him, "Oh, and why's that?"

"Because you'd come in last compared to all of us," Annie said, just loud enough to be heard.

It hadn't been Annie's intention to say that out loud, but now she had Jonathan and Billy staring at her. Maybe no one would take her seriously. Though, she was willing to bet every cent that her life was more difficult than Billy's since he was one of the reasons it was so hard for her to simply go to school.

"Well, what else are we gonna do here?" Carol asked, "May as well compare all our shitty lives."

Billy nodded slowly, "Okay, let's do it."

"Shouldn't we have some rules?" Robin asked.

The other boy Annie didn't know nodded, "Yeah, is this a competition? Because if we vote then we're all just gonna vote for ourselves."

"Then we just... can't vote for ourselves," Annie suggested, "I don't know."

Jonathan sighed, "Alright, who's starting us off?"

"I can. And then you'll all just understand how shitty someone's life can be," Billy said, leaning against a table, "Are you guys ready?"

Annie rolled her eyes a little, "Go for it."

"I will," he said, glaring at her, "My life's never been great. When I was a kid my mom left me with just my dad. He always beat on her and when she left, he did the same to me."

The other boy shrugged, "Everyone gets hit around as a kid."

"Shut the fuck up, dorito breath," Billy snapped.

"It's Keith, actually."

"Like I give a damn," he crossed his arms, "Anyway, my dad started seeing Susan and she had a daughter. Max was always a bit of a bitch, making my life a living hell. I got tired of her and I gave her some shit. Now, my old man didn't like that, so he said he was gonna send me to a military school."

Carol blew a bubble of her gum and let it pop, "Doesn't look like you got any military training."

"Yeah, that's 'cause I told him there was no way I was letting him just ship me off somewhere away from home. I hate him, but all the punks there would treat me even shittier than he does. See, getting beat around a bit might be normal, but I'm hit around more than a bit."

Annie couldn't help seeing red. Of all the things that he could have complained about, he had the nerve to complain about being hurt by a parent? That was supposed to justify everything he did? How could that possibly excuse what he did to those around him? She stopped listening at that point, her brown eyes giving a steely gaze at the gaudily-patterned carpet.

The only reason Annie knew that Billy was done was because Carol cleared her throat, "Come on, I can totally do better than that. You might get beaten a bit, but come on. You're more of a bitch than I am, Billy."

All of them nodded. She didn't think that he would be winning this. Not when she already knew exactly what she wanted to say. Maybe she would put on a bit of a show about it. It was hard to decide.

"Okay, so I was born in Chicago and then moved here in '72. Everything here is super lame, I feel like I should get points for a good part of my life just being too dull to document," Carol said, chewing on her gum, "Anyways, I started crushing on Tommy when we were in seventh grade. It wouldn't have been a problem, but he was dating my sister. She was a grade above us so you can't ask her now, but I just had to have Tommy."

Annie wasn't quite sure where this was going, but she felt like it was better than Billy's self-pity. Sure, his life sucked, but she would have more sympathy if he hadn't done the things he had.

Carol let out a sigh, "So, it took a bit of work, but I was able to win him over. Half the school hated me. That might still be the case, so... I guess I'm sorry? Except I'm not. Look, it's all in good fun. Doesn't matter anyways since the rest is history with me and Tommy. Except for the last year I know he's been screwing around behind my back."

"I um- I actually don't know what to do about that. Do any of you know what I'm supposed to do?"

Robin shook her head, "You dump him!"

"Yeah, I can't stand you, but you should definitely break up with Tommy. You deserve better," Annie added.

Somehow, with the knowledge that Tommy had been doing that to Carol, she felt worse for the girl than she did for Billy. Not that it was a difficult thing. She hadn't talked to Carol since the day she and Tommy were bothering her.

Jonathan sighed, "You're not the only one who's lived here a long time."

"So you're going next, Byers?" Billy asked.

He nodded, "Yeah, I'm not about to pretend like I don't have issues. Because, like you, I got beat around by my dad. So did my mom, I helped Will get out of that. Look, you and Carol are a bit more... headstrong than I am. That's just not my speed. I don't talk about that stuff much, but I know I'm the one keeping things at my house together."

"Oh, come on. You're dating Nancy Wheeler, shit can't be that hard," Billy said.

Annie rolled her eyes, "You can be dating someone and still have a hard time. Let him go."

"Aside from everything with my parents, I think you all know about Will. I'm not gonna talk about that, but it still counts for all this shit. So, I think some of you know how outcasted I was-"

"Only because you took stalker pictures of Nancy," Carol said.

He sighed, "I know that's part of it, but you guys didn't like me before then either. She's kind of my only friend and I waited almost a year to be with her."

"Um, okay, I thought we were lab partners," Robin chimed in.

Jonathan nodded, "You're right. You're both right, but I still never feel like I belong. After everything my family's been through, I can't afford to feel sorry for myself. I have to be unbreakable, you know? Instead of giving my little brother a hard time, I try to take care of him as much as my mom would. Sometimes I wish she took care of me that much, but I know she cares. I just don't know what's gonna happen when I go to college. It's far off, but I don't wanna abandon my family."

"You're not going to. You can move on from this town when you get a chance. Nothing says that you're not allowed to come back," Annie pointed out.

Obviously she knew that there was more to Jonathan's story. He went through everything over a year ago plus the same stuff she dealt with. It sucked, but she knew that he wasn't about to tell everyone. They couldn't talk about that stuff.

There was a long pause as some of them shelved the nearly empty carts of books. No one seemed to want to go next. Annie almost contemplated on going next. Everything that she wanted to say was right there in her head whether everyone wanted to hear it or not.

Keith let out a long sigh, "Okay, I know you guys are wondering what hardship a guy like me could have."

"We don't have to wonder," Carol said, "You're a tragedy."

Robin shrugged, "Not being allowed to eat in the library isn't a tragedy."

"Neither is not being allowed to annotate books," he countered, "Well, Jonathan over here isn't the only one with the hots for Nancy Wheeler. I helped out one of her brother's friends and I was supposed to get a date with her."

Jonathan laughed a bit, "Did that actually happen?"

"Nope, nothing happened, I totally got stood up. See, she doesn't think I'm the most attractive guy."

"Wonder why," Carol said.

“She has a boyfriend, that’s why,” Jonathan countered.

Keith glared at them, "I happen to think I look great. Nancy doesn't know what she's missing, and I don't wanna hear it from the chick dating Tommy Hagan of all people."

Annie's mouth dropped open. The nerve of some of the people at this school was beyond her. She could see Robin look a bit on the shocked side as well. Though, now, she had to know where this story was headed.

"Anyways, after that failed date, I went home. It's a classic story, you know? The mediocre-looking guy loses the beautiful girl because she thought she was too good for him. So, you might ask yourself if I'm bitter about all this," he paused before shrugging, "Not really. I got to go home to my parents and our large house and my Atari. Now, that's tragic."

Billy coughed, "You gonna give us your sob story?"

"Well, I lost the girl, but I still got to dance around my room in my underwear. So, you do the math. I can still flirt with whatever pretty girls I want. I'm a free spirit and I don't have to do anything unless I want to," he looked around the room, "So I guess I don't have a sob story. Life's pretty damn great."

Carol nodded slowly, "Okay, that's one person out of the running. I'm thinking we should just get to how we're gonna vote or whatever."

"Um... hello? I've still got something to say," Annie said.

Keith looked at her, "I'm sorry, but who're you again?"

"Oh, she's the chick who's dating Steve Harrington. His rebound, ya know?" Carol said, "What could you possibly have to say that could be tragic?"

Keith shook his head, "Of all people, you had to date a douchebag?"

"Not only a douchebag, but a pussy one at that," Billy added.

Jonathan reached out an arm to stop Annie from doing anything, but she ignored it and walked up to Billy. What it was she had in mind to say was beyond her. All of it just fell out of her mouth. Any bit of anxiety was replaced by a pure, unbridled rage and it was all she could do to not electrify him to death where he stood.

"This isn't about Steve. This is about me," she said, "And you know what? Maybe there's something to be said for me not having anything to say that could top any of you."

Billy nodded, looking like he was waiting for her to admit defeat.

"Like, seriously, your lives all sound like they suck and your stories... they show that as well," she looked up at Billy, "I mean, seriously, coming so close to getting shipped off to military school for being a dick. That could have come so close to being a real problem for you. Not like something I know of that's an actual problem."

She walked over to Carol, "And, getting cheated on? A tragic yikes. Unfortunately, I've seen that happen too many times to count. Seriously, though, please dump Tommy, he's not worth it."

"And Jonathan," she patted him on the shoulder, "Having to wait a year to get the girl you loved? And then getting her at the expense of hurting someone else's heart and trust? How could you have been so wronged!"

She glanced at Robin, "I don't have your story yet, so you're good for now... but Keith, oh Keith."

He looked at her and she frowned, "Being thrown aside for how you look? Now that sounds like the actual worst. Unfortunately, I can't relate. I mean, let's be real here. I'm, like, super hot. So hot that I have a dick for a boyfriend apparently. Hm... I'm not sure if I could ever compete with you guys!"

"Oh, I think I got an idea!" she said, standing in the middle of the library, "See, my looks have always been pretty great. So great, in fact, that I've had great luck with boys ever since I was little. And even from that age I was totally aware that all guys wanna do is, well, you know."

She wiggled her eyebrows as she sat on one of the tables, "So when I was in Seattle, I was fourteen when I met Jeremy. He was my music tutor, about eighteen, he was a senior. You could say he taught me everything I know. Like, he would take me through my scales and vocalizing exercises. He put my mouth to work a lot, if you catch my drift. Had to break me in, you know? And once all that was done, he would play with my hair and tell me how pretty I was. I thought there was a connection there, something different."

"Wait, did he-" Jonathan was cut off by Annie giving him a pointed look.

"So... that fell through after, like, six months. Then there was Greg. I was sixteen, he was nineteen. He worked as the sexy secretary for my mom's law firm. Naturally, I offered to help him out," she took a breath, "He had me help out in more ways than one. I mean, he could barely wait for my mom to leave the room before getting my shirt on the floor. Still, I'm pretty sure we had a connection. It was gonna be different."

Carol scoffed, "Yeah, right."

"Yeah... it didn't pan out, so I decided to focus on school. That's how I met Dr. Lancaster, my dad's boss. You guys know about the college professor scene in Seattle, right?" there was a pause and she shrugged before continuing, "He admired my intelligence and I helped him grade papers and whatnot. There was no way that he could've gotten through the semester without me. He said that we had something special... not quite as different as I thought."

Robin's eyes widened, "You fucked a professor?"

"No, actually. My parents were starting to have problems, so we moved to New York before anything happened. Pretty cool, right?" Annie said, letting out a sigh, "It wasn't easy there. The guys sucked, everyone did. Well, aside from my dad's TA."

"We already know he’s just gonna be a dick!" Carol exclaimed, "Sorry."

Annie forced a smile, "Todd made sure that I was handling the move okay. We would hang out all the time. It was great to actually have a friend. Nothing special to it. Until we were in my dad's office and he was talking about how much he really liked me... that's fine or whatever, but then he started to force himself on me um... pinning me to the desk? My dad caught us and he's blamed me ever since. He wrote a long letter about how I'm the biggest slut he knows."

There was a pause and she took a shakier breath, "So, moving here and getting that plastered all over my locker? Not so different from what I'm used to. I mean, all guys wanna do is, well... you would know, wouldn't you, Billy?"

"What the hell's that supposed to mean?"

"You know exactly what it means. I know what you were gonna do to me if Max didn't stop you."

"Annie," Jonathan said, giving her a warning look that she ignored.

Billy rolled his eyes, "You tried to slit my throat."

"Because you were killing Steve!"

"Only because you guys were hiding Maxine."

"Because she was scared of you, and I don't blame her," she said, her voice cracking.

He rolled his eyes, "Whatever, now you're just crying to get more points."

"The least that could happen is that I win some dumb competition about who had the shittiest life," she said, getting off the desk, "Come on, Robin, you're up."

Robin looked at all of them, "Um... you know what? I'm good. This is really what we've come to? Arguing about whether someone deserved to get their face beaten in or whatever? I don't wanna bother."

"She's just worried that her story isn't gonna be that good," Carol said, crossing her arms.

Keith nodded, "Yeah, I hate to say it, but I agree."

It continued like that for a little while, each of them inadvertently pressuring Robin into saying something. After all, they all said something that was super personal. They may as well just have Robin in the running for all this.

"Okay, fine. You guys want some sad story? I'll tell you one," she said, tucking some of her hair behind her ear, "Just... a bit of context, I went to a camp last summer. Um... I met a gir- guy. We hit it off, you know?"

"What's his name?" Carol asked.

Robin sighed, "Sam, her-his name was Sam. We had something really good going, you know? It was really sweet, the way that um... that he would talk to me. I thought we could keep it up over the school year. The only problem is um... my parents, they're traditional. Like, really traditional and he was... well, he wasn’t someone they’d approve of. They found that out when he sent a photo. So I had to write him a letter and end things."

"Oh... what did you say?" Annie asked.

"I told he-him that... well, that I loved him. I loved him as much as you could love someone. That I really, really missed everything about him. I even said that if I could, I would have told my parents to screw off. As if they can choose who I love and wanna be with. I'll never be what they want, no matter how hard they try to force me into soemthing I don't want," Robin sighed, running a hand through her hair, "Of course, I can't say that to my parents... so I ended up sending that stupid letter. Is this really what we're doing, though? I have to bear my soul to all of you to win some dumb competition? I'm over this!"

There was a silence around the room before Billy piped up, "They had a point, you can't trust some people."

"I already have to hear it from my parents, so shut the hell up, Hargrove," Robin replied, shaking her head, "See, this is the type of shit that happens when we open ourselves up. It's stupid to compete for this. We'd all obviously vote for ourselves."

Annie shook her head, "I was gonna vote for your story, actually."

"Robin's right, though. Comparing everything like this was stupid,” Jonathan replied.

"It was that bitch's idea anyways," Billy said, gesturing to Annie.

She rolled her eyes, "Because you were being a dick. I didn't mean to actually have us spend this long on the subject."

Eventually, the topic dissipated, and no one cared any longer. It took a lot for them to all talk about what they had, but it clearly didn't make a difference. Annie just focused on shelving until Robin came near her.

There wasn't anyone else close enough to hear both of them, so Annie approached Robin, "Hey, um... I've got a question."

"What's up?"

"You don't have to answer, but... was Sam a girl ?" Annie asked.

Robin's eyes widened and her mouth opened.

"Wait, don't worry, I was just... I was wondering because it sounded like that. I mean, only because I kinda play for both teams, you know?"

Robin blinked, "Hold up, but you're dating Steve Harrington."

"Yeah, and? Still doesn't change the fact that in those two years I didn't mention that I was dating Penny who lived a few doors down from me."

"Holy shit, and you're not gonna tell anyone?"

Annie shook her head, "Wouldn't dream of it."

The both of them continued to shelve in silence. Though, Annie felt like there was more of a friendship between both of them. She hadn't told Steve about any of that yet. Not because she was scared of him reacting, but because she really didn't want him to just claim that he didn't believe her. That thought didn't stick around.

A couple hours later, and everyone was allowed to go back home. It almost felt like none of them had talked about anything. Maybe that was for the best.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, I hope everyone's enjoying this! I would love some feedback, it helps give me motivation!


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